KAHULUI » Every three years the venerable portrait — usually reserved for the rich and powerful — becomes a collage of all Hawaii during the Schaefer Portrait Challenge.

"In this exhibit, people are the real thing," said Neida Bangerter, director of the International Gallery at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. "There’s moms, gardeners, our neighbors, children. It’s the excitement of community, of sharing the stories and the love of being here."

The Schaefer Portrait Challenge is exactly that: a challenge to artists across the state to get out of their comfort zones and create a portrait of anyone in Hawaii whom they feel strongly about, even themselves. The show continues through March 22 before moving to Hono­lulu in June.

"That’s why the word ‘challenge’ is in there," said Bangerter. "We’re trying to reach artists who don’t necessarily do portraits, and quite often those portraits are the most compelling ones."

The 247 entries for this show came in a cavalcade of media — paintings, ceramics, sculptures, wood, printmaking, resin and lacquer, even a quilted canvas. The 66 portraits selected convey more than what meets the eye.

"This is not about just viewing," said Bangerter. "It’s a deeper expression on how to portray your subject, to take a deeper look at the essence of that person, to show their history and their story, their environment, rather than just what we see."

This show is the fifth Portrait Challenge, and it’s possibly the most diverse. Subjects reflect a rainbow of cultural backgrounds, ages ranging from in-vitro to contented old age. There are families, surfers, millennials, people with disabilities and — because this is 2015 — a student so overwhelmed by technology that she is literally sewing tentacles to herself to keep up with all that’s being thrown at her.

Bangerter said the influence of electronics, social media and cellphone "selfies" was obvious. More than one-third of the entries were self-portraits, allowing the artists to reveal some part of their persona or, in the case of Noble Richardson’s "Being," three versions of himself seemingly having a conversation.

The show, now a signature event for the Maui gallery, is distinctive in that it offers both monetary rewards to top artists and feedback to those who don’t make the cut.

The most lucrative prize, the Jurors’ Choice Award of $15,000, was presented to Allyn Bromley, a retired University of Hawaii professor. In her portrayal of Richard Gerage, a printmaker whose life was radically changed 40 years ago by a car accident, Bromley employs silk-screen to give the viewer a sense of looking through a curtain at an ethereal Gerage in his wheelchair.

The Marian Freeman People’s Choice Award — literally the pick of the 9,000 visitors expected to see the show — will be announced March 15, with the winner taking home $5,000. Anyone who comes through the gallery can vote.

Jurors Esther Shi­mazu, Keith Tallett and Sidney Yee spent five weekends island hopping to review entries and make their picks. Notes taken while examining each work were made available to artists.

"This is the only exhibition that I know of that does that," said Bangerter. "Most artists value critique, and they will want that feedback."

Each piece in the show is accompanied by a brief narrative by the artist. Some highlights:

» Gini Lawson’s unflinching "Self Portrait, with Oxygen," showing the artist breathing with the aid of an oxygen line while lying on her back in the sand, forming the outline of an angel with her limbs

» Kirk Kurokawa’s heartwarming and humorous "Me and My Homies," of the artist, his wife, two children and dogs on their way to the beach carrying "everything but the kitchen sink"

» Sally French’s arresting "Bumbye U Lern," a commentary on technology taking over our minds and bodies

» Albert Weight’s admiring look at his brother, surfer Eddie Weight, in "Sport of Kings"

» Verdine Kong’s wistful "Mom in My Memory," a painting of her mother, now an Alz­hei­mer’s patient, penning a note

» Christine Turnbull’s "Old Hat," a ceramic bust so lifelike you expect the 91-year-old subject, Sammy Kado­tani, to speak