Campaign to save Glasson man’s artistic treasure trove
A campaign is underway to preserve an amazing treasure trove of artistic creations which a Glasson native has left behind in his London flat.
Gerard (Gerry) Dalton, who is originally from Killinure, emigrated to London in 1959 and lived there until his death in August, at the age of 83.
He lived alone in a Housing Association flat on Hormead Road in Paddington and it was there he crafted a vast array of models and concrete statues of famous buildings and historical figures.
The collection has been described as a "magical kingdom" and "Gerry's Pompeii". It recently received coverage from the BBC, RTE, and newspapers including the Guardian, the Times, and the Daily Telegraph.
Singer Jarvis Cocker, of the band Pulp, said Gerry's work was "very important" and that there was "no other environment of this size and quality in the UK".
In recent weeks, a campaign has been underway to preserve the collection and open it up to the public as a museum. However, the Housing Association is seeking to retake possession of the property, leading to uncertainty about what will become of Gerry's creations.
His works include intricate models of Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, and Windsor Castle, as well as statues of kings, queens, emperors, generals, and poets. One of the pieces - a statue of Oliver Goldsmith - provides a link with his native Glasson.
"It's an unbelievable collection," said Gerry's nephew, John Elliott. "He used to say that he made (the artworks) to stay busy and to keep himself off the streets. They were his life for the last 30 years."
John, a financial services solicitor who divides his time between Killinure and Dublin, said the owners of the flat had suggested an offer be made to buy the flat for £500,000.
The owners were looking to have the flat vacated by Monday, November 4, if a formal offer was not made by then. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent that day, John said efforts were underway to seek more time to find a solution.
He also said the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, would be writing to the CEO of the Housing Association this week to express support for the campaign.
An online crowdfunding campaign was launched in October to buy the flat and preserve Gerry's "monumental, site-specific body of art", but at the time of writing just £4,341 had been raised.
"We were totally amazed to learn of the love and affection that Uncle Gerard’s neighbours had for him and their appreciation of his works," said John.
"The campaign, led by (freelance art curator) Sasha Galitzine, has been unreal. She has worked tirelessly on a voluntary basis for weeks and the media response has been incredible."
John said finding a place to store the work would be an immediate issue if the flat was to be vacated. "We, his family, have no means of storing it, and I suppose this is something that we were always afraid of when the time would come that Gerry would pass away."
He said a number of prominent figures from the world of art in the UK had viewed the collection. The art experts had been highly complimentary about Gerry's works - "they've described them as some kind of national monument or national treasure" - but they didn't have capacity in their own museums to show the works, which they felt should be kept 'in situ' to preserve the artistic merit of the collection.
The managers of the property, Notting Hill Genesis, stated that they would "continue to speak to Gerry's family and the wider community over the future of this amazing collection," but John said that, to date, the property owner had not been not willing grant more time to find a permanent solution.
"We might have a short-term (storage) solution with one of the neighbours on the road, but professional archiving is very expensive for a body of work like this," he said.