The first, 'Possibly Maybe Study No 3 (2006)', was one in a series of studies completed during Cath's summer 2006 residency at Cragside, Northumberland, a National Trust property built on a rocky crag high above the Debdon Burn. It was closed to the public at the time and Cath was intrigued by its inaccessibility, which for her was then "an enticing idea, no longer physical, entirely invisible, but still in existence". Using only observation of the exterior, plans of the site and gathered knowledge and images of the internal design, her complex drawing started with a "rigorously drawn grid of lines", which she described as "echoing the precision of computer generated images". Parts of the drawing were then painstakingly cut out, in a "very intensive" process, through which the final structure emerged, almost lifting the work off the paper, to represent the fabric of the building it depicts.

The second piece, 'Heaven must be missing an angel (Part 2) 2006', was based on a hospital which had not been built, but for which architect's plans existed.

Another incredibly intricate drawing, which took what Cath described as "four very long days", it was produced using the same method and, like 'Possibly, Maybe', it has a fragility which, as Cath stated in her entry statement "undermines the inherent solidity and permanence of the subject matter".

Cath was thrilled to have won the bursary (which she plans to use for research into an ambitious new drawing, aiming to map meticulously an entire lost drowned town in Tuscany), not only for the prize money which she said was going to open another doorway, but also for the exposure the win gave her work, which was hung at last year's ING Discerning Eye Exhibition.

As this Newsletter goes to print, the DE Educational Advisory Board will be meeting to view this year's entries for the 2007 DE Bursary. In tribute to David Gluck and the massive contribution he gave to the Discerning Eye as a whole, and particularly to the now established annual bursary award, this year's accolade will be dedicated to him - 'The David Gluck Discerning Eye Bursary'.

 

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