Derek Balmer's first public exhibiton was at the RWA in 1956. In 2001 he became the Academy's eighteenth President. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.K. and Europe and is currently represented by Gisela van Beers, London and Anthony Hepworth Gallery, Bath. In 1965 he won the Prix d'Natalie in Provence and following other successes was the 1983 finalist at the Avon Open Exhibiton at Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, the city in which he has lived since the 1950s. Derek Balmer was given a solo exhibiton in the Sharples Gallery at the RWA in 1980.