Our opening in London

Over 100 people attended the opening of 'Byzantium and Beyond' at the Bermondsey Project on Thursday night. I was considerably relieved by number of people who turned out on a thundery and wet evening. The response was overwhelming too. Thank you to all the many, many people involved in getting this exhibition together and allowing us to exhibit Dave's work in London.

Deverani and Tobais, Dave's grand-daughter and grandson

Looking into the main gallery (left) and the self-portrait gallery

Chris Pearson talks with his cousin Lorraine (right, back to us); with Edward Lucie Smith left middle distance

  

The entrance to the main gallery

Sue Goodwin and Barbara Nicholls

The film-maker Derek Smith and Julian Williams

The Bermondsey tablecloth

So here we go - soon to catch the train to London.

Julian phoned last night from Bermondsey and told me how the day had gone; last minute problems with the print-shop, and a late afternoon tweaking of the lights. But ultimately all looks well; in fact he says 'brilliant'.

So today it's a final tidy, the odd coat of paint (on the gallery walls), and ironing the Bermondsey Project tablecloth. See you there...

Almost there

Despite Margaret's work last week there still appears to be a lot still to do. Julian Williams (See Gallery) has been in Bermondsey these past couple of days sorting the final arrangements before Margaret returns tomorrow for her final check. 

Sourcing print has been a problem for us, familiar with Lancashire prices, with London print-shops charging 250% more than we are used to, and Julian has been charging all over London to find a good deal for jobs such as information boards, titles and other support material for the exhibition. His gallery experience has proved useful in sorting drinks and nibbles, as  well as chasing up last minute lighting and tidying jobs. But my last phone call with him, an hour ago, was far more relaxed - at last we seem to be on top of things.

The catalogue, we're told, will arrive on Thursday morning - let's hope this isn't another nail-biter. Ric, our designer, has seen the finished book and says it 'looks fantastic'. Hollie from Cork Street Open Exhibitions has told us the iBook is complete too, look great and we're jiust waiting now for confirmation from Apple that it's on the iBookstore.

So something else to look forward to, along with all the people who are ringing or texting and - on the whole - telling me that they're going to be there. Roll on Thursday evening!

A report back - and help needed

Derek Smith, the director of 'To Byzantium', the wonderful film about Dave Pearson and the work of the DP Trust, visited the hang in Bermondsey and sent me these two photographs. He wrote:

"The show even at this early stage of completion looks amazing ! This is of course my first real experience of a Dave Pearson exhibition after squinting at jpgs.....and stacked canvases for all of 2 years."

Margaret reports that everything is 90% in place, but there are a few gaps in the lighting. Does anyone out there have access to a couple of fresnel lanterns? Or a few spotlights? The problem for us is getting things down to London from Rossendale at this stage in the proceedings. 

Any help with this would be very welcome. 

Hanging commences

Margaret Mytton is now in London and, helped by Taidgh and Darren, is now starting the hang of the show. Edward Lucie Smith will be along today and final positioning of the work will be agreed before the paintings start being mounted on the walls. 

Margaret tells me that she already feels sure that additional lighting will be required so this now has to be negotiated with Mick Bateman  of Crisis. Fortunately we bought and took down several halogen lamps down with us (from Lidl!), and these apparently do the job perfectly. 

I'm working on final graphics for the exhibition, and will be sending these to London with Julian on Sunday so the local print-shop can prepare the boards for the opening next week. 

The pack...

I visited the studio in Haslingden an hour or so ago where Julian and Jackie, helped by Andre and Mariana, our Portuguese theatre students here on placement, were busy wrapping everything in sight in bubble-wrap. Tomorrow Julian and Chris Pearson load the truck and then Julian drives down to Bermondsey with the exhibition.  

Mick Bateman has emailed to say that everything is in place at the Project to receive the work, and when Margaret arrives on the 10th the hang will begin. Meantime, I'm off for a short break in Cascais (where Andre and Mariana are at theatre school). Mick has also listed the publicity that Crisis have been undertaking, in addition to my own efforts. This is all very encouraging and the fact that the Bermondsey Project is also expecting to launch its own website in a few days time is also a boost to our effort to publicise the show.

Not especially related to anything current are the three very tiny oil paintings of Mummers done by Dave in the 1970s when he was researching English calendar customs. I really like these little paintings, and they show a very different side to Dave's work than the pieces we'll be showing in Bermondsey. 

Almost ready to go

Julian Williams has the artwork ready to leave Rossendale and head for the Bermondsey Project gallery in London next weekend. One room (above) at Dave's old studio in Haslingden has all the paintings selected by Margaret Mytton and Edward Lucie-Smith stacked, ready waiting to be wrapped and then loaded onto the truck for delivery. There are also halogen lamps in case we require additional lighting, protective packaging, hanging plates, and touch-up paint (for the walls - not the paintings). 

Margaret and our designer Ric are on to the last stages of preparation for the catalogue before it goes to the printer, and I'm working on designs for the invitation and collating, with Julian, the up-dated mailing list so that everyone who needs to gets an invite.