Winner of the prestigious 2014 Archibald Knox Travel Scholarship is 18-year-old Isle of Man College of Further and Higher Education student Amy-Beth Clark. 

The ?3,000 bursary, sponsored by marketing, design and public  relations agency Home Strategic, will help with travel costs incurred by Amy-Beth in pursuing her art degree over the next three years.

The award was presented during a dinner at the Sefton Hotel organised by the Archibald Knox Society to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the internationally renowned artist who was born on the island.

Amy-Beth, who was one of five students shortlisted for the award, will study for her art degree at the College and will be among the first students to work from the old Market Hall in Douglas in the autumn.

“The award, based on my work throughout the year, was totally unexpected,” said Amy-Beth, who lives in Peel.  “There are a number of galleries I want to visit, including those in France and New York, which will give me the opportunity to meet and talk to artists in those and other countries.  The bursary makes all this possible and I’m also really delighted to have won the award named after an artist whose work I very much like and respect.”

At the end of each academic year Amy-Beth will be expected to return to give a talk on the places she has travelled to as a result of the Scholarship and its impact on her studying and degree course work.

Lee McLellan, business development director at Home Strategic, said the award was an extension to the agency’s successful involvement with work experience opportunities for students from the College.

“It has made us aware of just how much creative talent there is on the island,” he added.  “The bursary will give Amy-Beth that all important financial freedom to travel while studying for her degree which might not have been possible without the bursary.”
Amy-Beth is also the first recipient of the Liam O’Neill trophy named after the Society’s chairman and founder and which was presented to her at the dinner.  

Photo - Amy-Beth Clark (centre) with from left: Liam O’Neill, chairman and founder of the Archibald Knox Society; Lee McLellan, business development director, Home Strategic; Chris Cubbon, creative director, Home Strategic; and Helen Fox, head of art, design and media at Isle of Man College of Further and Higher Education.