Percy Thomson Gallery: Prestigious Adam Portraiture exhibition on display

Adam Portraiture Award finalist and Viewer's Choice winner Gwyn Hughes' portrait, Stig and the Taniwha. Photo / Supplied

Two exhibitions opened at Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford last week.

The popular Adam Portraiture Award, organised by the NZ Portrait Gallery in Wellington, awards New Zealand's premier portraiture prize.

Supported by the Adam Foundation this biennial award highlights the power of portraiture and celebrates New Zealanders and the portrait painters who represent them.

This exhibition showcases 48 artworks that were shortlisted from hundreds of entries, including work by two Taranaki artists; Jana Branca and Jordan Barnes.

Hayley Elliott Kernot's first solo exhibition is showing in gallery two. Hayley is an emerging New Plymouth artist who is captivated by faces.

The common thread that influences Hayley's creative work is 'stories'; reading, telling and re-telling tales has always been an integral part of her life; from her love of reading and making up fantasy worlds when she was young, to illustrating children's books, to a continuing passion for mythology, history and legends.

Hayley is drawn to faces, and the corresponding stories each face tells and this exhibition features several portraits.

Both exhibitions run until September 13.