An on-line shop

I've been working with Ella Cole to create a new on-line shop for purchasing Dave Pearson's work. It's an opportunity that has grown from upgrading the Artlook software that Ella has been using these past few years to catalogue Dave Pearson's work.

At the end of last year Artlook undertook a major overhaul of their software which enabled the catalogue to benefit from cloud technology for storage and our Macs to easily engage with a catalogue which previously been limited to PCs. 

One of the best things about these changes is that the new software comes with a website which can be fairly easily made into a shop for selling work. We hope that this will go live in a few weeks time, and at the moment we're creating some groupings of Dave's work for the experiment. Initially we will be offering some of his colourful Byzantium gouaches, a selection of etchings based on British Calendar Customs, smaller Byzantium-themed oil paintings, and other works on paper.   

The Catalogue

I will have written about the cataloguing process way back; probably 2 or 3 years ago now. So it's probably worth posting a short reminder as to how it actually works.

Ella does a couple of days' work each week, mainly adding to the catalogue. She (as I write) is at catalogue number 6670. When Ella started I had reached around about the 1500 mark, which took me best part of 2 years - but in just under 18 months she has added over 5000 pieces of Dave's work.

What we call 'the Catalogue' is actually a piece of software called 'Artlook'. The company who make it are based in Milton Keynes and if and when something goes awry (which it does once or twice a year) they are available, on the end of the phone or email, for friendly support. It's a very reasonably priced package, and we would certainly recommend it. It's PC-based, which to me is a slight problem as otherwise I work on Macs, but other than that it does everything it claims - and then some.

Ella takes a photograph of each piece of work and enters it into the system. These photographs are fairly low-res and a simple guide to the piece rather than the definitive visual record. The title, media, size, value, date and so on also get entered and the software automatically generates a catalogue number. Ella backs the data up every week.

Artlook software offers all kinds of other cataloguing possibilities - accounting, comments on condition, even an on-line shop if you want one. The catalogue is also very valuable in recording the sales we make of work - including the names and addresses of buyers. In  this way it has helped us create a database of people who are interested in Dave's work. It also enables us to print out invoices, certifications of ownership, and other important paper-work. 

However, on the whole, we use only a small proportion of the resources that Artlook has on offer. Even so, we're continually using the catalogue search facilities, and the ability to print off the financial and sales records save a great deal of time and trouble. Finally, being able to view thumbnails of the work by category, and click on these for a bigger image if necessary, is also a highly valuable tool - probably the only way we get to overview Dave's work visually - or at least that part of it (a third?) which, so far, has found its way on to the catalogue.

Early work

I visited Dave's studio to day to catch up with Ella, who continues to patiently catalogue the work. We had expected to meet Greg McGee and Margaret Mytton to discuss plans for an exhibition at Greg's gallery in York. Unfortunately Greg has been taken sick overnight, so the planned meeting has been postponed. 

Instead Ella showed me some of Dave's school and early student work she is currently entering into the catalogue. Some of this early work is fascinating, such as this interior of his parent's home in London, where he would have been living at the time:

But inevitably, with someone like Dave who kept all of his output, not apparently censoring anything, there are many sketches, abandoned pieces and rejects. What to do with these? To put them all in the catalogue, or to start a censoring ourselves? Ella has chosen (with help from the Artlook software people) to create a fresh category within the programme - 'School and Student Work'.

This sketch of a baby is typical of the kind of work I'm referring to. Unfinished or not followed through pieces, probably of interest to anyone approaching Dave's work from a scholarly or research-based point of view, but unlikely to be saleable or of general interest. Putting these into their own section of the Catalogue seems to provide the answer. 

Ella joins the team

Dave Pearson's old studio in Haslingden is now completely set to welcome Ella Cole as the person who will work there on a regular basis cataloguing Dave's output and organising his work. To this end we've equipped the studio with additional shelving, lighting and heating, as well as a desk. I spent the afternoon with Ella going through all the necessary arrangements and teaching her the basic operations of the software programme, Artlook, that we use for producing the catalogue. 

This is a significant juncture for the Trust, although it will be a while before we gain a clear idea of just how much progress Ella will make. It has taken me three years of sporadic work to catalogue about 1400 pieces (less than 10% of the total) and it will be exciting to find out exactly how rapidly Ella moves on from this. Cataloguing involves photographing, filing, measuring and entering of data - so it needs to be done carefully and with thought, and isn't something that can be done on a production line. Almost every piece of work having its own quirks and often with unique questions that need to be resolved before the entry can be completed. 

Split Tree Warriors - and another busy week

We recently sold four of the 'outliers' from Byzantium - meaning the secondary panels that Dave designed to hang round the main panels of the Byzantium series, usually related to the architecture of the gallery spaces in which he was showing that wonderful series. Although the central Byzantium pieces are not currently for sale the outlying panels are, and those above were purchased recently. These are designed for 'The Split Tree', and so they are known as 'The Split Tree Warriors'. The buyer kindly sent us a photograph of them in situ at their new home (above); below is a photo he took when they were hanging at the See Gallery. 

Meanwhile The House of the Nobleman exhibition has opened in London; Margaret and I are talking with Edward Lucie-Smith about a possible new date for the exhibition in Bermondsey and I've finally managed to move the Artlook software to a dedicated laptop with the help and support of Charles Davies of Artlook. 

Following on...

I spent all of yesterday cataloguing the 54 pieces of work we sold at the Open Studios weekend. This means entering them into our Artlook software. Part of the day was also altering the software's default 'Stock Information Sheet' to incorporate the statement that Edward Lucie-Smith advised us to include on the sheet, asking future purchasers to notify the Trust of any change of ownership. Now I can print a full-colour A4 sheet for each buyer that gives them the necessary information about the piece, and its provenance. 

Then this morning I've written a report for the Borough Council on the open studio weekend (they gave us some funding towards it); a suggested Agenda for the Trust meeting this weekend, and a letter to our solicitor with a copy of the 'To Byzantium' DVD because we believe the Customs and Excise inspector looking at the issue of the Estate Duty may well be making his visit shortly. Although the DVD wasn't in any way made for this reason, it happens to function as the lead witness for the defense (!), in that it records, on film, the terrible state of the studio and the work in it at the time of Dave's death, and the tremendous work that has been done to remedy the situation and, as a result, considerably increase the value of the artwork. 

Meanwhile Margaret Mytton is trying to arrange a small exhibition of some of Dave's work in London, although communications are proving frustratingly difficult for her. More of this in a later blog I'm sure...

Cataloguing work

Photographs courtesy of Derek Smith

The three photographs above are from the Cornerhouse launch weekend. At the top, in the Cornerhouse cinema with Dave's daughter Florence front left; below that myself and Chris Pearson post-curry; and the lower photograph myself with Edward Lucie-Smith. 

Edward gave us a lot of practical help. Not only helping with future showings of Dave Pearson's work in London, but also plenty of detailed advice - on what type of certification to provide buyers of Dave's work, and what information to add to those certificates, for example.

So this weekend, following on from the launch weekend and last weekend's Open Studios, there are 20 or so such certificates to produce to accompany the pieces of work sold. The new certificates will provide the following information: a catalogue number, a title, dimensions, media, a colour thumbnail image of the work, address of the Dave Pearson Trust, and a sentence or two asking buyers to notify the Trust should they sell the work to another buyer. I'll need to do this using the Artlook software, which provides a basic template, but it will need additions to create a fully comprehensive sheet using Edward's model.