Developments at the Dave Pearson Trust...and an intern.

Since the last blog work at the Dave Pearson Studio has developed significantly in several ways. First, the Trust has agreed on a deadline of 31st March 2018 to wind-up itself up. At that point all of the remaining paintings and other art works will be returned to Dave's son Chris (though physically they'll stay at the studio). For more on the reasons behind this read the January 2017 blog. In the short/medium term there won't be too many changes as Bob Frith will continue to oversee things at the studio (Bob is, in any case, the landlord), and he will continue to be helped by Ella Cole. But this change of legal status is clearly a turning point, and in the longer term there's no doubt that the Dave Pearson estate will almost certainly find fresh ways of maintaining Dave's work and developing his reputation.

Next, over the past few weeks we've been joined by Caitlin Stracey (above) who is helping us out for a day or two each week. Caitlin has arrived at a good time, as we're busy reorganising things for a number of reasons  Initially in order to create space for the Apna to have their own office space in addition to our own:

We've also started to archive certain works, mainly sketches and preparatory drawings, so as to create more space in which to show finished pieces. We feel confident to do this because Ella is now very close to completing the cataloguing of the work that we have in the studio. As a result we're better able to take an over-view of all of Dave's work and make decisions on which pieces should be archived, and which should stay visible and shown publicly - both in exhibitions, as well as to potential buyers.

Once the cataloguing at the studio is complete, there's still the little matter for Ella of cataloguing the work that remains at Chris Pearson's house, just along Manchester Road. This could easily amount to another thousand artworks.

Finally, to say that Arry Nessa, who manages Apna (which now occupies the downstairs front room) is in the final stages of doing her own organising - of the On-Paper Festival, which is partly based in our premises. It's good to feel that the building now has a double creative focus, and the Apna room will be used for a wide-range of activities from lantern making to paper-cut workshops and mindfulness.

The Art Trail 2015

The decision to return the large ground floor front room at Dave's studio in Haslingden into a gallery space really paid off this weekend at the Rossendale Art Trail - the renamed Reveal Open Studios weekend. 

It meant that at least a small selection of the work can be viewed in optimum conditions (above) and this was clearly appreciated by the 80 or so people who came through over the two days. It was also reflected in a good number of sales being made, and a lot of interest from people who want to make an appointment to visit when they would have more time to look through the work.

Ella Cole, who is managing the process of cataloguing Dave's work, has now reached 9,999 pieces in the catalogue. Purposely holding back from the ten thousandth until we have a bottle of champagne at hand! This quantity  of work is still all contained on the top floor  of the building, and the ground and first floor have yet to be sorted through.

Another hoard...

I've mentioned many times in this blog that Ella Cole spends two days each week cataloguing the collection of work left by Dave Pearson. In his three storey studio she started work on the top floor, and after almost two years has catalogued over 9000 pieces - all on the upper level. We thought that work on this top floor was almost completed, but late in the day discovered a hoard of a dozen or so large boxes of work - a lot of it early work, from Dave's student years. 

This week Ella open a new box, and discovered 300 pieces of work in it. It's particularly interesting - small experimental coloured sketches and trial pieces, with a dozen or thereabouts on each page. Above is a small selection of these from the corner of one such sheet. 

One of the fascinating things about these pieces is how assured they are for such a young artist (Dave must have been in his 20s) but also how so much about them prefigures the forms and approach of the later work around the Byzantium period of the 1990s. 

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.

2,000 more drawings...

Another regular Tuesday at Dave's old studio in Haslingden, working alongside Ella as she catalogues Dave's work. Ella has been doing this, we reckon, for one year and four months now, and we've reached number 6,398 in the catalogue of work.

When I first looked at this huge collection of work, immediately after Dave's death, I started counting the collection - it was necessary, among other things, to do this for the Estate probate. I stopped at around 14,000 when it became impossible to reach further into the decaying and unsafe rooms, and at this point I realised that, tucked away, there could be as many as 20,000 pieces of work. This somehow reached the news media (I think through a local news report) and there was an avalanche of superficial comment in the press about the situation, typically labelling Dave as an eccentric artist and suchlike.

Eventually, as the Trust got to grips with the situation and we began to clear up and return the work to the restored studio, I modified my estimate to there being around 15,000 pieces of work, ranging from small sketches to enormous triptychs on canvas painted in oil. 

Today I cleared a shelf that had a number of plastic-bound folders on it; folders I assumed would have photo-copied sheets or photographs in them. In fact 11 of them contained drawings - probably an average of 150 per folder. So I had uncovered another 1600 or so drawings. These all need to be catalogued, although we'll probably count each folder as simply one item, and just note the number of individual pieces of work inside. 

Then Ella laid out a pile of mixed drawings from the same shelf (photos above) - yet another 400 items. So in just one morning we've uncovered another 2000 pieces of work. My estimate of Dave's output here in the studio is beginning to return to the 20,000 mark!

There were also a number of pieces in yet another file that I'm finding hard to categorise. Are they a record of work done, or are they artwork's in their own right? Most of them are clearly based on local war memorials (such as the one in the park just over the road from Dave's studio), and incorporate poppy motifs. However they need to be catalogued or preserved, they form a stunning record (see below) of another strand of Dave Pearson's work:

A day in Dave's studio

Today is the first time I've been able to work properly alongside Ella at Dave's studio in Haslingden. This because I'm slightly reducing my days at Horse + Bamboo and allowing myself a day each week catching up on the enormous number of jobs that have built up in the studio over the past couple of years. Ella focuses very effectively on the cataloguing process but there's a heap of jobs that have been allowed to pile up - everything from deciding on whether certain sketches/scribbles should be catalogued to fixing the cistern!

This is also the last week of the Dave Pearson: Colourist exhibition at the According to McGee gallery in York. There have been a decent number of sales and excellent feedback from the show but on Monday next week I'll be collecting the unsold work and bringing it back to the studio.

Ella tells me that she is cataloguing number 5976 as I write; so very close to the six thousand mark. Yesterday she uncovered some beautiful gouaches and water colours (pic above), but she's now cataloging a large series of works about the Haslingden war memorial, in the park just across the road from here. These series - and Dave worked on scores of them, on diverse subjects - are usually variations on a theme, sometimes drawing and painting over a photocopied image. Because there are literally hundreds of these works, perhaps thousands, we're discussing placing them in groups by series in their own special boxes and giving each box a catalogue number, rather than cataloguing each individual sheet.

Life returns to 54

It's been a quiet summer for the Dave Pearson Trust. Holidays of course, but mainly other work being done by the trustees is to blame. But now we expect things will begin to pick up again.

We sold the lovely ink drawing 'Yellow Cat' (above) over the weekend, and will soon be making preparations for Dave's work to be shown at Olympia as a part of Art 14. In addition there's the Rossendale Valley wide 'Reveal Arts Trail and Open Studios' on the weekend of the 28th/29th September - and although we're not opening Dave's studio it will be possible to join an organised visit through The Whitaker (Rossendale's Museum and art Gallery). 

If anyone wishes to see Dave's studio over the Reveal weekend then please contact Jackie Taylor at jackie@thewhitaker.org and she will try and fit in a special visit. The reason we're not able to open the studio itself to the public is that every room is now functioning as storage space, so there simply isn't enough display space to show work in anything like reasonable conditions. Ella Cole, who works for the Trust in cataloguing Dave Pearson's output, is also in the process of arranging the top floor in an orderly way - with shelves and drawers of work all properly labelled and numbered in line with the catalogue of work (see photo below), rather like a library, and naturally we can't afford this work to be spoiled.

Ella catalogues!

Just been to see Ella Cole at Dave's studio. Ella is now well into her stride, cataloguing Dave's output. We're now very, very close to reaching number 3000 in the catalogue - for many artists this would be a sizeable life's work. For Dave Pearson there's still plenty to go. Ella reckons it'll be at least 8 weeks before she'll finishes cataloguing all the pieces in the first room - then there's 5 more rooms plus scores of folders of work. But to be fair this first room does contain many of the smaller pieces - above is a self-portrait Ella discovered earlier this week. 

The exhibition of a selection of Dave's Bestiary paintings and a number of drawings at The Whitaker in Rawtenstall will be on until the middle of June. The Whitaker is the new name for Rossendale museum - if you want to find out more go to the equally new website - www.thewhitaker.org 

Discovery of the week

The cataloguing of Dave Pearson's work has gathered momentum and we're approaching number 2000 in the Catalogue of Work, although before getting too excited I need to remember that the numbering system started at 110, but nevertheless that means almost 1900 pieces have been recorded, titled and categorised. 

It can be a fulfilling job, briefly having that close, if brief, acquaintance with each piece as it comes under scrutiny. Last week Ella came across an unnoticed folder of about 100 gouache sketches on paper from the Vincent Van Gogh period of the mid and late 1960s. She sent me a photograph of one - the discovery of the week!

Stock-taking!

It's exactly four years since the Dave Pearson Trust was formed in February 2009, six months after Dave Pearson's death. In that time a lot has happened. For anyone new to this blog, it has meant:

• Moving all of his 15,000+ artworks out of the dilapidated studio
• Rebuilding and major renovation of the inside of Dave's old studio and returning the artworks
• Starting the job of cataloguing and organising of the paintings, drawings, prints and other artwork
• Commissioning a comprehensive documentary film about Dave's work
• Organising the showing of the film, now being shown regularly on the Community Channel
• Overseeing the first major exhibition of Dave's work in London, co-curated by Edward Lucie-Smith
• Publishing a booklet/catalogue with essays about Dave
• Planning future exhibitions and on-going publicising of Dave's work
• Developing links with local and other buyers, notably with the help of the See Gallery
• Selling Dave's artwork, using the proceeds to support our work

The blog was something I started to chart the progress of the Trust as, in 2009, there were no guidelines as to how to go about what seemed a daunting task. All we had was our confidence that Dave Pearson's work was important and needed to be rescued from possible destruction, and then to be made known to the wide  world. 

So we've a lot to be happy about. The next four years? Well, we now have a part-time researcher and assistant, Ella Cole (pictured above), working so that cataloguing Dave's work is continuing on a more regular basis; Margaret Mytton is developing a new website to focus on Dave's small drawings and gouaches on the 'Book of Revelation'; I'm planning a major overhaul of our website; exhibitions are being planned in 2013; and I'm also going to concentrate on looking at major galleries as a home for one or two examples of Dave's major series of paintings. 

So plenty to get on with!

Full of activity - briefly

We battled up to Dave's old studio in Haslingden today for a get-together with various people, all excited by Dave's work. Ella and her husband Max delivered a desk for me to use (as Ella has, necessarily, taken over all the other work surfaces).  Julian and Jackie turned up with John, the framer, and his partner Sarah. John is the framer we tend to use, both because his work is truly excellent and because he also has a great eye for effectively solving some of the problems that turn up from time to time with Dave's work - such as how to deal with the cardboard reliefs made by Dave in the 1960s, and now looking rather vulnerable. 

Kay, my partner, also wanted to ask John about a frame for a large pencil drawing by Dave that she has recently bought, and finally Steve H, and his son Tom, arrived to collect a particularly special 'outrider' canvas associated with the 'Byzantium' series, that he has also purchased recently.  

So the studio was, briefly, full of activity despite the cold. It's incredibly well organised nowadays compared to how it was when we bought Dave's work back from storage after the building re-fit was complete. Let alone compared to how it was when Dave died. Ella's work will help this ordering of the work continue. In her first week of work she catalogued about 100 pieces of work - remarkable progress when she is only working three short days each week. 

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. 

Comfort - and an exhibition

This week we will be starting getting the studio ready for Ella (see the previous blogs) so that she can commence work on cataloguing the Trust's collection. 

Even now, having sold several hundred pieces of Dave's work since his death, there is still no space for laying out drawings in order to photograph or archive them properly. So one of our main priorities will be to increase shelf space by buying shelving units that will provide 30 additional storage shelves. This means Ella will be able to catalogue and move the awkward piles of work that currently sit on top of the plan chests. These will then be filed away in acid-free boxes and, where necessary, individual sheets will be separated by acid-free paper. Having another plan-chest would be useful - anyone have one that needs a good home?

We'll also be working on making the place a little more comfortable - some racking in the kitchen, a microwave cooker, desks and a desk-lamp, plus a heater by Ella's desk. 

From the 14th January there's also an interesting exhibition of Dave's 'Bestiary' paintings from the late 1990s at the See Gallery in Crawshawbooth. It's only open by request through julian@seegallery.co.uk and contains a few large canvases such as the one shown above, and a good number of smaller ones. This series, inspired by Dave's interest in medieval bestiaries, occupied Dave for over 10 years and went through a number of different phases that are represented in this fascinating exhibition. 

Wi-fi, and some support...

I spent the day at Dave's studio in Haslingden yesterday while BT engineers busied themselves climbing up poles, drilling holes in the thick stone walls, and making the place wi-fi friendly. In between time I heard them having conversations about surrealism and whether Dave had ever travelled to South America. Anyway, job done and we're now broadband abled.

This is partly in preparation for taking on someone to work on a more regular basis cataloguing and recording Dave's work. Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that I continually go on about how slow the progress is doing this job. I've managed to catalogue less than 1500 pieces in three years, so at that rate it will take between 30 and 50 years to complete the job! But now we've taken on Ella Cole, who has cataloguing experience as well as a degree in Fine Art, to work on moving things forward. Ella will start work with us early in the New Year, once we've made the studio slightly more work-friendly (i.e warmer and cozier).