2011

So after a break from working on Trust business over Christmas and New Year I'm back picking up the reins. One thing is to get the pieces that were on show at the See gallery (a selection of work from Dave's old studio at Globe Arts) into the DPT Catalogue. I had planned to do this months ago but a mix up with Margaret about photographing these works has slowed things down so I'm getting close to forgetting which pieces were in the show and having to rely on my notes. Not something I would advise; we realise we must systemise our photographic recording of exhibitions in the future. I also need to meet with Jackie and Julian of the gallery (I hope to do this later today) and sort out the sales and expenditure on the show. 

Slowly my mind turns back to the on-going issue of the Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and their query about the value of the work on Dave's death. This really has to be cleared up soon - it's a weight hanging over both the Trust and Chris Pearson. 

Addendum: By the evening I managed to track down and photograph all the paintings from the See exhibition. Julian and Jackie paid a visit too, bringing along two friends who explored the collection in a mood of awe and wonder and then finally bought 6 pieces of work. So it turned out to be 5 hours spent at the studio and, as ever, the revelation of new and unseen (to me) pieces of work; new delights...  

A first glimpse

A photograph entitled 'Dave Wales c. 1960', given to Margaret Mytton by Dave's old friend John Waughman. 

I looked again at these photographs after Derek sent us a short sequence from the film - a first glimpse of what he has been doing. It consisted of a couple of minutes of John revisiting the old terraced house in Glyn Road, Hackney - what estate agents call 'a quiet residential tree-lined street' - where Dave lived as a school boy and during his early student years. The sequence was lovely, very atmospheric, and John and Derek were able to look inside and see the places where, over 50 years ago, Dave drew his mother and father going about their chores and work. 

The soundtrack has yet to be put down, and so what we saw was a rough cut but it bodes very, very well for the finished film. My colleague Loz Kaye is writing special music for the film and I imagine that it will soon be ready for his input. Very exciting! 

The last weekend of filming

It has been a full-on weekend; Derek Smith capturing the missing pieces of film he needs, plus what he calls the "master interviews", namely interviews with Margaret Mytton and myself. So on Saturday I was filmed moving work around the studio in Haslingden, and reliving the period of time around Dave's death when I filmed the decaying mess of a building that it was at that time, before it had its makeover. In the afternoon I drove Derek around Haslingden; figure-of-eight circuits that enabled him to film from my car. Then, in the evening, I was interviewed at the Boo, talking about a wide range of topics relating to Dave, but feeling very tired and with my voice slowly breaking up...

In between times Derek set up various 'missing' shots - a Rossendale Free Press billboard about the discovery of Dave's paintings at Globe Arts; exterior shots of the buildings; and close-ups of some of Dave's etchings and notebooks. Then on Sunday morning it was the turn of Margaret Mytton, who went with Derek to Bolton Abbey, where they walked to the Valley of Desolation, one of Dave's favourite places. At that spot, Margaret did her interview. Sunday afternoon we held a meeting of the Trust at 54 Manchester Road, discussing finances; the on-going problem with the HMRC/Inland Revenue about the valuation of Dave's Estate; our relationship with the See Gallery (very positive), and how we recompense the many people who help us out from time-to-time. 

So Derek returns to London today, and with the exception of one or two interviews left to film, the filming has been completed. We hope to have the finished film by Easter.

Snowbound update

Well thank you for the comments and support relating to the last two posts. One faithful follower of this blog prints it off and sends the DP Trust a regular laminated hard copy, and has even provided me with a folder to keep the pages in! Thank you so much, David - it's very much appreciated. Tellingly we're about to go into a second volume.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, filming was undertaken at MMU and Derek emailed me that it was both interesting and useful footage. I didn't ask him what final accommodation had been made with the university authorities - I'll find out soon enough when he makes his last filming expedition to Rossendale to record myself and Margaret Mytton.

That trip up from London was cancelled this weekend due to the weather - moving around is a treacherous business right now; Margaret in particular has to cross the Pennines to get over to us and she reported that she spent five and a half hours just traveling to MMU and back during the week. Fingers crossed for next weekend.  

Another chapter.

Derek Smith tells me that the filming at MMU went well, and that next weekend he wants to interview Margaret Mytton and myself and after that the filming for the documentary on Dave Pearson will be complete. Today was the final day of the exhibition at the See gallery, and next week I'll take the unsold pieces back to the studio at 54. So almost the end of  another chapter. It would be nice if the Inland Revenue would resolve their issue with death duties - then we could start 2011 knowing where the Trust stands.

This year we're better prepared for the cold weather - the water at the studio has been turned off, and the background heaters are on. Important to avoid another burst, especially as the cellar (that was partly flooded last winter) now houses more work as a result of moving the pieces out of Globe Arts Studios.

Hard times at MMU

Derek Smith has almost completed the filming for the documentary on Dave Pearson's work. The Trust hope that this film will help us to promote Dave's work more widely and support our aim to enhance the reputation of a unique and special man and artist. Derek has yet to interview Margaret Mytton and myself, but the rest of the filming is just about in place. 

One final piece of footage Derek wanted to include in the film is a short section inside Manchester Metropolitan University, where Dave taught for 38 years throughout it's various guises as Manchester School of Art and Design, Manchester Polytechnic, and now MMU. However permission to undertake this has turned into a long, legalistic process. First a facility fee had to be negotiated in order to gain access to the premises (£175 was finally agreed on);  then various other permissions were required. After a lot of negotiation by Derek, and with help from Margaret, herself a  Senior Lecturer at MMU, things finally seemed to be resolved. 

But when a final contract was issued to Derek it included a clause  'In addition the Licensee will pay to the Licensor 5% of the profits, only in the event the profits exceed £20,000'.  Despite the fact that we would be very, very surprised if the film made a profit of any kind, let alone in excess of £20K, this does seem a rather mercenary position for the University to take, especially when we're talking of a matter of a few minutes of footage in a 60 minute film created for a not-for-profit organisation. Derek says 'I must confess to never having seen this in all the years I have been producing films professionally since 1979'.

Margaret Mytton has written to the Conference and Events Co-ordinator at MMU pleading for a sensible and balanced response to the Trusts concerns. Among other things, she points out:

"As someone who worked closely alongside Dave Pearson for many years, I appreciate the tremendous commitment he had to the students, the courses he taught on, and to MMU as an institution. This was demonstrated not just by the high quality of his teaching which was legendary, but by the many, many evenings on which, other than students, we would be the only persons in Grosvenor. It seems appropriate that this commitment and 38 years of his life is represented visually in a film about his life and work, without penalty."

She goes on to say.... 

"I welcome the opportunity for MMU to share in any reflected glory that may ensue as we continue to raise Dave's profile. As we are wishing to portray MMU in the best possible light, this is free advertising for the Manchester School of Art. In fact because of the fee Derek has agreed to pay, MMU are already actually being paid to get free advertising!"

Dave Pearson and the Northern Renaissance

As part of his research for the film on Dave Pearson that the Trust has commissioned, film-maker Derek Smith has been researching Dave's past. Derek came across a Guardian review of an exhibition in 1972 of Dave's work inspired by Van Gogh. Written by the critic Merete Bates, the review says "...unlike so many artists' interpretations after a master, it is not easily forgotten." She finishes by wondering "It will be interesting to see what will grow after Van Gogh. Dave Pearson has great capacity to explore his subject thoroughly."

Derek tracked down Merete, who apparently now paints in Dorset. In a reply to Derek she writes a memory of the period in the 1970s when she worked as a national critic based in the North-West, and refers to the last line of her review:

"It is impressive to go through his work on the web-site and see how he did develop. "The Jarrow March" for example is only too relevant just now. I imagine he was a superb teacher?

"It was an amazing time to work first at Granada and then on the Guardian, especially with a completely free rein that I had then. 

"I can remember reviewing/interviewing many artists who may have been helped..(but they were good anyway)...by national exposure.....John Virtue,  John Loker, Tony Cragg, Adrian Henri... Then  Norman Adams,  Peter Prendergast, Jim Billsborough, Kate Barnard nee Westbrook all of whom became great friends, to name a few. These were sometimes alongside artists already well-known - John Hoyland, Alan Davie, Winifred Nicholson, Tony Caro. I would often be covering 3 - 4 exhibitions a week, some with interviews, all well worth seeing. The great advantage of the North, as I have since discovered, is the provision of great galleries even in the smaller towns. Of course there's the Bluecoat....but also the Haworth, the Tib Lane (until recently), the Park Square and the big city galleries such as Leeds, Manchester, the Graves in Sheffield. There is designated space to show painting...

"Of course theatre really exploded then too, sometimes in alliance with television, sometimes independently. At Granada there was World in Action with John Shepherd and Les Woodhead, et al. there were stunning writers like Jim Allen, Jack Rosenthal, Alan Sillitoe... there was the Stables with Trevor Griffiths and others..I myself made documentaries (or at least researched, filmed and wrote them) on the Durham mines, and  the early Labour movement and also wrote a play for Ken Trodd. Then there were the new theatres, the Everyman, the Bolton Octagon, Sheffield Crucible, Leeds Playhouse, the Victoria at Stoke with Peter Cheeseman, the Manchester Exchange...  Not to mention the Art Colleges - Albert Hunt at Bradford and Willy Tirr at Leeds, Jeff Nuttall.....I can't believe, thinking back, how so much could flourish out of nothing in such a short time and it was by no means prosperous, whatever they say - more like emergence from the duress that followed the second world war."

This paints a picture of a kind of Northern Renaissance, a time in retrospect seen as a Golden Age, that I remember quite clearly, although I hadn't seen it in those terms before. To me it's perceptive and very interesting, and it shines yet another light on Dave and his development.