A FORMER Lochgelly High School pupil is an example of the sort of young artist who can enjoy taking part in the Fife Art Exhibition.

Entry forms for the 2018 Fife Art Exhibition are now available from all Fife Cultural Trust venues.

This year, a Youth Award has been included within the six prizes. The new category is open to youths aged between 14 and 24 years. The required criteria for submitted artwork is that it must have been created outwith school or college. The emphasis is on young people pursing the creation of artwork in their own time.

Georgia Wiseman, FNGL Senior Process Engineer with Shell, met with Adele Jarett to discuss how much this opportunity means for local young people.

Adele, who is 18, has just completed her 6th year studies at Lochgelly High School and is moving on to Fife College to study graphic design. Adele showed Georgia some of the artwork in her portfolio and they talked about what she’s planning to create for the exhibition.

Georgia said: “Shell runs a wide range of community investment programmes in Fife covering everything from the arts and sciences, through to safety, education and social inclusion.

“We are proud to say that we have been supporting the Fife Art Exhibition for 35 years, which officially makes it our longest running sponsorship in the UK.

2018 is the 'Year of Young People' so we have created a 'Youth Award” which will be an ideal creative opportunity for young people during the school summer holiday period to get involved with the arts.”

The Fife Art Exhibition is open to all artists living in Fife who are not currently taking or who have not completed full-time degree or diploma art courses. The exhibition will run in Lochgelly Centre from Wednesday October 3 until Wednesday November 21 and entry is free of charge.

The six works judged best by a selection panel will be purchased by Shell and presented to Fife hospitals and health care facilities with winning artists receiving a Shell award of £200.

During the exhibition period, Fife Cultural Trust will offer Fife Art participants the opportunity to take part in specialist arts classes within the Lochgelly Centre’s purpose built art department.

This includes a pottery, kiln room with three kilns, (one specifically for glass), and a large art room used for painting, stained glass and jewellery making.

Entry forms must be completed and delivered to Lochgelly Centre by Monday August 27. Digital versions of the form are accessible via the website www.onfife.com and should be returned to Fife.Art@onfife.com also by Monday August 27.