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.

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.