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:

Newly hung

Just received an email with a few attached photographs of one of the paintings sold at the York exhibition. It's always nice to see where the paintings go to, and this particular example looks beautifully hung. The natural side-lighting from the window also enhances the texture of the three-dimensional collage that Dave used in the Calendar Customs and 7 Woods series. 

Studio visits

It's now the second Tuesday spent, under my new regime, at Dave's studio in Haslingden. Ella has paid me a visit but she is otherwise taking the day out as an Easter holiday. Electricians have been in dealing with the connection which has, alarmingly, started bleeding a resin-like substance from the mains box. This has oozed all over the connection board. So, with the power off for best part of an hour, and the inevitable security alarm ringing unstoppably in response, it's been an eventful morning. 

We're going to experiment by offering Tuesday afternoons as a time when interested visitors can arrange for a visit and guided tour of the studio. So if anyone wishes to see Dave's work in its studio home, then please contact us via hb@compnet.co.uk and Ella or I will do our best to accommodate you. Ideally, we think, between midday and 4pm. 

Back to York

Yesterday I went across to York for a final look at the exhibition at the According to McGee gallery on Tower Street (opposite Cliffords Tower).  Today (Sunday) is the last day of the show. I also met up with Graham Breakwell, who helped me hang the exhibition, as he had come up from Shropshire with his wife Angie and their two children. 

It looked great; and I was very pleased to see that 10 pieces have been sold, including the smallish oil on canvas (above) 'The Orange Tree', that I've always rather liked, and was a late addition to the exhibition to fill in a gap when a couple of works were sold on the opening weekend and taken away by the buyer. 

Tomorrow then, it'll be off with the hired transit to collect the remaining paintings and bring them back home to the old studio. But today, if you're interested, there's one last opportunity to visit the exhibition, and perhaps buy yourself a fantastic painting.

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.

The Opening

Yesterday the show in York opened at the According to McGee Gallery, opposite Clifford's Tower. It was a good day - or rather afternoon - with a steady stream of visitors, a good number of sales of Dave's work, much appreciation, old and new friends, and a lovely and informal atmosphere.  

The gallery is small, but with work of this quality, well displayed (though I say it myself), and with a variety of vibrant paintings, it looked fabulous. After spending a few days here, hanging the work and walking to and from the car park, it has become one of my favourite areas of the city too. Very close to the riverside, the wonderful Tower on its mound overlooking the gallery, the museum and the little park almost next door, it's a very pleasant district of York, removed from the busier centre even though it's only a couple of minutes walk away. So it's well worth making the trip to see our little show and making a day of it by exploring the neighbourhood and eating in one of the small and reasonably priced eateries that are in the same row of old shops as the gallery. 

To finish, details of three of Dave's paintings that can be found in 'Dave Pearson: Colourist':

York!

The past couple of days I've been in York hanging the 'Dave Pearson: Colourist' exhibition at the According to McGee Gallery. Above is the eponymous Mr McGee, Greg, in his front gallery with the three large oil paintings that dominate the room. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the hanging - it's a small gallery but we were able to include 25 pieces, including a handful that are large oils. It looks very good, and I'm especially grateful to Graham Breakwell who helped me on Monday, travelling up to York from Shrewsbury by train, and who made such an enormous difference to the hang.  

'Dave Pearson: Colourist'  opens this coming Saturday at 1pm. Everyone, of course, will be welcomed. The gallery is at 8 Tower St, York, North Yorkshire YO1 9SA.