One of the very recent developments with Dave's work is that we have asked the printmaker Alan Birch to look at the etching and drypoint plates left by Dave and see whether any can be brought back to a usable state and, if so, select some for creating new editions from.
Alan came to the studio and selected a good number of plates to work on. The process involves cleaning them of their dirt, ink, rust and other layers of material, and then making an assessment of whether the plate is in good enough condition to print from. If Alan believes that they are, he will then print a proof.
This morning Ella and I went along to Alan's workshop at Prospect Studio in Waterfoot, and looked at four large plates that he had just taken proof copies from. They were all remarkable images, from the Calendar Customs series of the late 1970s, and in surprisingly good condition. In each case we were enthusiastic about Alan following this up by taking the process through to edition stage.
Above are some details of two if the plates. They're extremely beautiful images, and we're convinced that these are very collectable. We're also asking Alan to continue with the process; there are at least another 30 or 40 plates good enough to explore in this way.
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