Edward King, director of Lakeland Arts Trust, which runs Abbot Hall and Blackwell, looks through the looking glass into the year 2003.

Exciting times are ahead for Edward and his staff with probably the most important exhibition programme for Abbot Hall yet, so Edward says: "We open with a show called The Enduring Image which looks at the work of those artists in Britain who have continued to paint the human figure over the past century.

"Despite the developments of abstract and conceptual art, the human being has always played a key role as the primary subject for artists. This first exhibition covers many of the major figures of 20th Century British art such as Sickert, Bomberg, Spencer, Bacon, Freud, Auerbach, Hockney and Kitaj, bringing together in Kendal a really comprehensive survey of British figurative art. This will give local people, and schools in particular, an opportunity they would be hard pressed to find elsewhere in any single gallery, even in London.

"Following on are two major exhibitions unique to Kendal. Both look at the whole working careers of the artists, and both artists are key painters in the British figurative tradition.

First is Tony Bevan, who is one of Britain's most exciting painters and is widely regarded as the most important artist in the next generation

coming after Bacon, Auerbach and Freud.

"And for the main summer show we open in July with the first exhibition of work by Euan Uglow since he died two years ago. There has not been a

major retrospective of his paintings since 1989, and we anticipate it will generate a significant amount of interest nationally and even abroad."

Uglow was an immensely important and influential figure keeping alive the academic tradition of studio figure painting, intimately connected with the group of painters known as the School of London.

Blackwell opens on February 12 with an exclusive, Nine Colourways, featuring glasswork from a range of contemporary British creators, including pieces by former members of London's renowned Glasshouse studio.

Sense of Perception follows on at the Bowness Arts and Crafts house in May with new work from Felicity Aylieff, a key figure in the wonderful world of sculptural ceramics.

Further details about events at Abbot Hall on 01539-722464; Blackwell 015394-46139.

January 2, 2003 14:00