The Plough Jags of Burringham

From time to time we receive queries about the provenance of a Dave Pearson work that has found its way into someones' possession. 

These are most frequently works not by 'our' Dave Pearson at all. There are one or two other artists out there going by the same name. Fortunately their work is immediately recognisable as being by a different artist. 

But yesterday I received a query about a print, and the sender sent me several photographs of it:

Interestingly it was signed, as an artists proof, by Dave, and dated 1980. It also had a title 'The Plough Jags of Burringham'. This information has been very helpful as we've not had an accurate date until now as to when Dave made the series of prints based on English Calendar Customs. Neither did we know exactly what the subject was. But with a little research I've found that 'The Plough Jags' are a folk group of mummers from the East Midlands, and Dave would probably have found a photograph of them during his researches into calendar customs. 

So we're been able to update our own records, and include this information on the Dave Pearson on-line shop, where freshly printed copies of the etching are currently available:

It's also given us further clues about a series of very large pastel drawings made by Dave Pearson. We knew that these were of English folk groups and customs, but were less certain as to their date. It means that almost certainly they were also done sometime around 1980:

Etchings and drypoints brought back to life...

Today I went along with Ella Cole to Prospect Studios in Waterfoot to see the finished set of prints that master-printer Alan Birch had produced from Dave Pearson's old etching and drypoint plates. 

Alan has resurrected 29 large plates, mainly from the 'Calendar Customs' series that Dave did throughout the 1970s, and printed two of each one beautifully on good quality paper. They are truly stunning - above are details of a couple, and a photo of Ella and Alan going through the finished prints for my benefit. 

Next week Alan will bring them among to the Dave Pearson Trust in Haslingden, and we'll choose a selection to have framed. Then we'll need to think about exhibiting them. Last week I met Wendy Gallagher from the Whitworth Art Gallery, and she suggested a number of different options, including the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh - which despite being out of the city centre is a beautiful space and, interestingly, Dave chose to show his Byzantium paintings there in 1992 - so it would be a coming home of sorts. 

Prints

We visited Alan Birch in Prospect Studios again this morning. Alan has continued to proof nearly 60 of Dave Pearson's etching and drypoint plates. So Ella and I have been able to go through the whole selection and decide which ones for Alan to take to the next stage. 

The prints fall into two series. First steel plate etchings, nearly all of which are from the early 1970s series of Calendar Customs, that explore British traditional customs and place them in a formalised landscape setting. These are large (mostly about 70cms x 45cms), really attractive and highly detailed. We've asked Alan to take 15 of these and print up top copies.

The other main group, of which we've chosen 11 for Alan to print, is a looser, more expressionist set. Still fairly large, these are drypoint from the later 1970s, hand etched onto a soft metal (aluminium) plate. Many of them are a development in terms of subject matter from the 'Calendar Customs' series - still relating to traditional customs, though with a few interiors of his studio, and one simply of trees:

Our hope is that Alan will finish the next set, which will be printed on top quality paper with a good border all around, next month. I'll then start looking for interested galleries for an exhibition of the work. The Whitaker in Rawtenstall has already expressed an interest, and the whole process of rediscovering these plates should make for a very interesting exhibition, especially for anyone interested in printmaking. 

Hot off the press

Ella Cole, who works as the archivist at the Trust carefully cataloguing Dave's work, invited Alan Birch to come over today to the studio to take a look at the etching and drypoint plates that have been salvaged from the work left on Dave's death. 

Alan is a superb print-maker and teacher himself, well known locally for his wryly witty print-making. Ella wanted to find out if Alan would be interested in resurrecting any of Dave's plates to make some new editions.

Dave made a lot prints, especially during the 1960s and 70s but, rather typically, once he had taken a proof or two he moved on to the next thing. So although we have a number of prints in the collection they are mostly scrappy and damaged. Dave never got into the habit of running an edition from his plates, or even taken real care of the prints he made.

We wondered if Alan felt it would be possible to make new editions from any of the surviving plates, and if so, was it worth it and would he be interested in helping us. 

In the end Alan and Ella found around 50 plates, many very large, that Alan felt would be worth resurrecting:

Some of  the plates were done using an unusual technique, possibly invented by Dave, of gluing metal onto metal to create 'relief prints'. I remember that the print technicians at Manchester Art College hated these as they easily damaged the expensive felt blankets used in the etching process:

There are also some lovely large steel plates that should make really great prints. Alan offered to help with all of this but we could see that it's a big job, that will probably take a good number of weeks' work to complete. Funds will need to be raised to get this done, but we all felt the results could be very special indeed, and we should start the process of getting art galleries with a special interest in print involved with the project.