Lake Wanaka, New Zealand (20 June 2016) – The Paralympics New Zealand Spirit of Gold® Collection will be on display in Wanaka from 23 June – 5 July and features Winter Paralympians and home town heroes Adam Hall, Carl Murphy and Corey Peters.
This innovative project is a unique combination of art and sport. Kiwi artist Amber Gabrielle Stephens has created a beautiful set of 12 portraits featuring some of New Zealand’s most high profile summer and winter Paralympians and Para-Athletes, to showcase the depth of talent across Para-Sport in New Zealand.
The portraits of Wanaka-based athletes Hall, Murphy and Peters will be displayed at the Cardrona Alpine Resort town office from 23 June – 1 July and will then feature as part of the 2016 NZ Mountain Film Festival Art Exhibition at the Lake Wanaka Centre from 1 – 5 July.
Cardrona Alpine Resort is the naming rights sponsor of the NZ Adaptive Ski and Snowboard Teams and Adam Hall, Carl Murphy and Corey Peters having trained at the resort for many seasons.
“Cardrona is stoked to host the Spirit of Gold® portrait collection in Wanaka,” says Cardrona Alpine Resort’s General Manager, Bridget Legnavsky. “It is great to be a part of the journey with these athletes and be able to celebrate their successes. Cardrona has been a long-time supporter of adaptive snow sports and now major sponsor of the National team.”
“It has been a huge honour to be selected from many well-known Kiwi Paralympians to be part of the Spirit of Gold® collection,” says Paralympic gold medallist Adam Hall.
“It has been amazing to see the coverage that these portraits have had so far. Since February the portraits have travelled from one end of the country to the other and have been viewed by 75000 people. This is some pretty impressive exposure for New Zealand Paralympic sports which I think is pretty special.
“It was a pleasure to meet Amber when she came to Wanaka last season to meet us before she began painting. She has done a fantastic job in showcasing and bringing to life the amazing stories these portraits show of each athlete.
I am really looking forward to seeing the collection visit the Wanaka area especially now the snow has fallen and the season is underway. I hope as many people as possible are able to come down and see the amazing work that Amber has done.”
Adam Hall, Carl Murphy and Corey Peters will be at the Cardrona town office at 20 Helwick Street, Wanaka from 4 - 5pm on Thursday 23 June to talk about the portraits.
The Spirit of Gold® collection is touring New Zealand for 35 weeks, increasing awareness and raising funds to support the New Zealand Paralympic Games team on the road to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games and to support the growth of Para-Sport in New Zealand. The collection will be auctioned during a planned ‘send off’ event in July 2016, to mark the moment the team leaves for training camps ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, 7 - 18 September 2016.
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