Brian Hailes gives his acceptance speech.

          Brian Hailes grew up in a beautiful mountain valley of northern Utah.  As a boy of thirteen and later as a high school student, he won several significant competitions with his artwork.  In the summer of his junior year of high school, Brian attended the Academy of Art College in San Francisco to study illustration, sculpture, painting, and motion picture production.  As a graduating senior of Mountain Crest High School he received the Sterling Scholar Award for Visual Arts.  In addition he received a full freshman scholarship and a four-year scholarship to study art at Utah State University.

           Brian has been active in community service from a very early age.  He served in various church leadership positions. In 1999, he took two years off from his art studies to fill a church mission in Jacksonville, Florida.

           Brian returned to Utah State University in 2001 to continue his studies of art.  Above all in his illustrative subject matter, human and animal anatomy is of most interest to Brian.  He meticulously crafts his work on a foundation of realism with the imaginative vision of fantastic realms.  His creativity and idealistic mindset play important roles as he continues to progress in technique and move forward in communication of those things that fascinate the human mind.