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2005 drawing school 2004 platform 100 2003 sure start 2002 community sales 2001 Johhny Jonas

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introduction

Whilst our main focus continues to be our annual exhibition each November, in recent years we have embarked on a broadening of our activities in support of our declared aim to encourage a wider understanding and appreciation of the visual arts.

The process began in 2001 with the opportunity to place an "artist in residence" at the UK headquarters of our exhibition sponsor - ING Group. The artist Johnny Jonas took up the challenge of capturing scenes that reflected the atmosphere of the workplace. You can judge for yourself how he did by looking at the full report.

2002 was a busy year. In the spring we launched the Discerning Eye newsletter, which is dispatched to all our Friends and Members. It is produced twice a year and reports widely on DE events and activities.

We also created our first bursary. The DE educational advisory board gave this to Jonathan Edgar, a student at The Frink School of Figurative Sculpture.

Johnny Jonas
artist in residence at ING in 2001

During the summer of 2002 we organised two special exhibitions and sales under the banner "Exhibiting For Mutual Benefit", Opportunities For Inspiring Artists and Discerning Collectors". These were made possible by the sponsorship of the ING Group and a grant from Arts & Business, a charity organisation set up in 1976 promoting a wide range of partnerships between businesses and the arts. Work on the Discerning Eye website was also started in 2002.

In 2003 we awarded a second bursary, this time via the Prince's Drawing School and organized an inspirational trip to the Mall Galleries for children and their parents from Sure Start, Battersea (a government programme supporting families, particularly those from disadvantaged areas).

Drawing tuition in 2005

2004 saw another collaboration with ING on the 'Platform 100' project.

In 2005, with an unprecedented fourth consecutive award from Arts & Business, came the DE/ING Drawing School project. ING staff in London were given a wonderful opportunity to engage with the visual arts and artists in a practical and creative way by developing their drawing skills (left).

The DE 2005 Bursary was awarded to Joan Gabie in respect of a selection of beautiful drawings from her 'China workbook' 2005. (See our newsletter report regarding her work).

Since 2006 the Bursary has continued to be awarded for drawing. Works of the finalists are hung at the annual ING Discerning Eye Exhibtion. The 2006 award went to Cath Campbell, for her meticulously drawn architectural type drawings. The 2007 winner was Michael Shaw. In 2008 Alexandra Blum was the winner and our current bursary holder is Chris Milton.