Mail-out

Last week we mailed out to our list of friends, followers and other contacts at the Dave Pearson Trust. Sorry, the version below is probably too small to read, but double-click on it and you should be able to see a larger, clearer version:

Today we're approaching being a month away from the opening of the 'Byzantium and Beyond' show in Bermondsey. Suddenly London seems an awful long way away to us, and our concern is that because we're based in the North-West of England attendance at the gallery Preview will be low. Of course we've been aware of this issue for a long time and have been making plans. The first piece of the jig-saw has been to create databases of friends, contacts, galleries, press, and other potentially interested parties. The mail-out above was the first part of putting this in place, and at the same time we also sent out a more informative mail-out to the press.

Next we've hired a small local company to handle the mail-outs, including adding a form on the front page of the Dave Pearson website for new people to subscribe. I've also looked at advertising. This is a problem area for us, as advertising rates are very high, way out of our league, so we've tried to create interesting editorial copy, hoping that the press will find Dave's story and the story of us setting up the Trust of interest and run an article. Finally we're hoping that friends and other contacts based in London, including of course the Crisis charity, who run the Bermondsey Project gallery, will help us send out word of the exhibition.

If anyone reading this blog is interested and wishes to receive an invitation to the exhibition, simply go to the Dave Pearson website at www.dspearson.org and complete the very simple form at the top right of the front page. You'll then receive our mail-outs. Many thanks.

Margaret and Julian tell me that their visit to London yesterday, to measure the Bermondsey Project Space in Willow Walk and discuss plans for the April exhibition with Mick Bateman of Crisis, was extremely useful. 

The planning of the exhibition is now well under way. I'm looking at the design and print for a catalogue; Julian is planning the logistics,  and Margaret is working with Edward Lucie-Smith to select, curate and hang the show. Throughout Mick Bateman will act as the main link within the gallery itself, both creatively and practically. 

All this, of course, will be expensive, and over the next week or so we'll have to plan and manage the costs of the exhibition; listing the potential expenses and selecting our priorities because our funds are, inevitably, limited. Throughout the main consideration will always be what will serve the purposes of the Trust best - namely in the enhancement of Dave Pearson's reputation as a painter.

Planning for the Spring exhibition

A gouache from the late 1960s, on the Van Gogh theme

I met with Margaret Mytton, Julian Williams and Jackie Taylor yesterday to plan and allocate our workloads in order to have things ready for the Spring exhibition of Dave's work in Bermondsey, London.

Margaret had prepared an agenda and list of jobs, which we went through, discussed and decided who would undertake each of them. Of course everything needs to be tightly co-ordinated. For example the appropriate paintings need to be identified and selected, then moved into position for measuring and (where necessary) photographing, in order that the designer has the details and images to undertake the design and then have the job be at the printer in time for the catalogue to arrive at the gallery well in advance of the exhibition opening. Meanwhile a designer and printer need to be found, and the gallery space needs to be measured and a plan for the exhibition drawn up so we can be certain that there's enough space for the selected pieces and, of course, that they make aesthetic and logical sense being hung together. The main issue is the lack of space at Dave's old studio, which means moving large and heavy canvases around is a time-consuming and difficult operation, with the constant danger of damaging them.

Margaret and Julian have the major part of the work to undertake. Margaret is planning and curating with Edward Lucie-Smith and Mick Bateman, as well as photographing and collating information about the works. Julian is largely moving, organising and transporting the pieces, as well as looking into publicising the event. Because of my own heavy workload at the theatre during this period I've slightly less to do, but I have agreed to oversee the design and production of the catalogue, and help with the press releases. 

The exhibition, at Bermondsey Project Space, is scheduled to open on Thursday 19th April, and run until 13th May.

Another busy time

Margaret and I are both very busy with our jobs at present - Margaret with her lecturing on the Foundation Course at MMU, and myself working on a new production at Horse + Bamboo Theatre. But work for the Trust continues to move on, and in the past week we've discovered that The Return, the exhibition at The House of the Nobleman in Regents Park, London is going to remain open, and so Dave Pearson's pieces in the show will stay, for now, in this impressive setting. 

Next weekend we're expecting a visit from Edward Lucie-Smith, and a contact in London who is interested in seeing Dave's work in its Rossendale setting - at his old studio, now refurbished, in Haslingden. So I met with Julian and Jackie from the See Gallery to look at how we might fill the holes on the walls of the studio. At the moment, following the number of sales from the Reveal Open Studio weekend, there are rather a lot of these. Sales of work continue too, and Julian has had buyers visiting last weekend - and another yesterday. 

It's certainly an interesting time for the Trust. The planned exhibition in Bermondsey, London has been moved forward to May 2012; the idea of a major show at Dean Clough has also moved forward a step with a visit to the studio having been arranged, through Margaret, with the curators. Because of our own work commitments, it's incredibly valuable to have Julian and Jackie able to support the Trust in this way; without them a lot of opportunities to continue to develop Dave's reputation would be lost.

A DVD design

The artwork for TO BYZANTIUM is now complete - which includes a cover (above), a booklet insert and an inlay label for the DVD. I've also designed an invitation to be sent out to people for the launch event at the Cornerhouse, Manchester on the 4th September. Everything will go off to the print company on Tuesday.

There are only 158 seats in Cinema 2, so we're having to ask everyone who receives an invite to phone or email in order to reserve their seats. 

It looks as if, from an email we've received from the film maker, Derek Smith, that an exhibition of Dave's work has now been agreed for BERMONDSEY PROJECT SPACE - for September 2012; almost exactly a year after the launch of the film. 

TO BYZANTIUM

Planning for both the completion of the film, now with an agreed title - 'DAVE PEARSON: TO BYZANTIUM', and the launch of the film at The Cornerhouse, Manchester, are well underway. This will be the culmination of well over a year of work by the Trust, and by the director of the film, Derek Smith, on and off for almost exactly a year.  

The Trust are also discussing exactly how the relationship with Jackie and Julian of the See Gallery will work. Julian in particular will be taking on the arrangements for the launch. If this works out, we'll also be asking him to take a lead of planning future exhibitions of work by Dave Pearson, including - hopefully - one in 2012 at the Bermondsey PROJECT SPACE. 

Bermondsey

Edward Lucie-Smith speaking; Margaret Mytton
to his left

From the left: Leslie Morphy (CEO Crisis), Marcel Baetig (CEO Bow Arts),
ELS, MM, and Mick Bateman (Manager of the Project).

Yesterday afternoon I travelled down to London with Margaret Mytton to the opening of the Bermondsey Project Space. For us, this development has grown from Edward-Lucie Smith's involvement in Derek Smith's film. ELS mentioning the Bermondsey project and suggesting it as a gallery space in which to show Dave Pearson's work. Derek joined us at the opening, travelling from his house in Hackney.

The Project is a new initiative; a very exciting coming together of CRISIS (the charity for the homeless), Bow Artists' studios, and the vision of Edward Lucie-Smith. In fact quite a visionary project on all fronts, because it must have taken an imaginative leap for the charity to see the potential for artist's studios, and a gallery space, to become a building block in creating opportunities for homeless young people. 

So what we saw was a brand new gallery on the ground floor of a London version of a mill building; and on the 3rd and 4th floors at least 60 artists' studios - collectively part of the Bow Arts group. The gallery was an exhuberant space, with good light, good acoustic, and with a great presence - one large and characterful space, with smaller offshoot rooms and wide corridors - a perfect place to show paintings.

We talked with ELS, who had clearly already given the idea of an exhibition of Dave's work some serious thought; as he showed us around he told us how he imagined we might use parts of the space. We also began to look at the periods available to us - this will be organised with Mick Bateman, who manages the new space and is an artist himself, and will be at some point next year. The idea of the show is thrilling, and there's every reason to think this space could develop under the management of a very dedicated, ambitious and imaginative team, into one of London's most exciting new galleries. The perfect place to show some of Dave Pearson's large paintings.