KPMG Fayle Awards recognise young artistic talent

For the third year, four art students studying at University College Isle of Man received recognition for their art work in the KPMG Fayle Awards for Creativity.

Given in commemoration of former KPMG Managing Director Mike Fayle, who was a keen admirer of the arts, the students were nominated by tutors at UCM and each received £500 towards furthering their studies. The awards were presented recently at the UCM Further Education Awards, held at the Villa Marina.

Lydia Gray won her award for Innovation with her experimental work in fashion and textiles manipulation. Her energy, commitment and confident attitude to her work has led to beautiful experimental work in fashion, ceramics and 3D, but it is her experiences in textiles which have excited her to imagine her future in fabric. Lydia has explored each of her projects with an ethical and sustainable viewpoint, often using locally sourced resources as starting points. Lydia has an obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm for the entire productive process, showing an inner determination that well suits the textiles industry.

Euan Mort won his award for Dedication, starting at UCM on a level 1 programme, he successfully progressed through to the level 2 art and design course and then onto the level 3. His attendance throughout has been exemplary, he is diligent and has always applied himself consistently to his studies. He has grown in confidence and has developed lots of transferable skills that will stand him in good stead as he starts his career.

Kieran Brennan picked up an award for Progress. Kieran has always been a student who showed potential on the degree course. Through hard work and determination to work within the context and technical aspects of his chosen discipline, he has pushed himself to exceptional standards within his final year of study to achieve a first-class degree.

The fourth award went to Lydia Glover for Skill, with a creative and innovative approach to working with textile materials, pushing boundaries both of physical materials, but also challenging her own abilities and new skills. Lydia has an excellent approach to work, direct, involved and exciting, she has an inquisitive nature and there is a growing individuality in all of her outcomes. Generating visually engaging work by experimenting with and exploiting processes, she has risen to every challenge that the course has thrown at her and has quietly enjoyed each one of them. Throughout the year she has adored all aspects of experimentation and skill building.

Russell Kelly, Managing Partner at KPMG in the Isle of Man, remarked on the awards, “The Fayle Awards have been a fitting legacy for our former friend and colleague, Mike Fayle. The four awards are intended to acknowledge and support, in a small way, the diverse range of talent here on the island. It was a pleasure to join the students and their tutors at their recent art exhibition at UCM and learn about the motivation and inspiration behind their work. I think Mike would be very pleased and proud to be associated with these awards and we look forward to seeing how this year’s winners develop and progress in the coming years.”

Head of Art, Design & Media at UCM, Helen Fox, added: “These awards will make all the difference to these four students, they have worked extremely hard on their different courses. It is a challenge selecting students for awards as all our students deserve an award, especially this year during the COVID 19 pandemic.”