Hertford Arts Hub wins National Lottery support for an oral history project about Alan Davie and The Hertford Brewery

Hertford Arts Hub has won a National Lottery grant! It is to record the oral history of Alan Davie, his life and work in Hertford, and the life of people working in the Old Hertford Brewery. This exciting heritage project is based at The Hertford Arts Hub Gallery,Hartham Lane, and is home to the Alan Davie Exhibition.
Alan Davie was one of the most famous artists in the UK. An international artist who lived and worked in Hertford for more than 60 years from 1953 until his death in 2014. Alan Davie painted bold, expressive and colourful works which were heavily impacted by ideas early on in his career drawn from the surrealists and from reading about Zen Buddhism.
He influenced a generation of artists – including David Hockney, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst. People have come forward who knew him. This project enables recollections to be recorded and made available to the public.
The Old Hertford Brewery is an iconic Hertford building, built in 1890 by the McMullen family - brewers in Hertford for nearly 200 years. There are people who remember working there up to 1990. The project will enable their recollections to be recorded for the future. The building is currently the home of Hertford Arts Hub.
The research project is supported through the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and also Hertfordshire County Council locality fund of Cllr Andrew Stevenson.
Anyone who knew Alan Davie or who worked at the Old Hertford Brewery – or who would like to volunteer as a researcher or be trained as an oral history interviewer please contact info@hertfordartshub.org
Quotes
Sarah Mayson, gallery manager said “I have been surprised how many people have come into the gallery with recollections of Alan Davie and this place and the project will bring this together and provide a permanent heritage for Hertford”
Andrew Stevenson said “Hertford as county town has a rich heritage which goes largely uncelebrated. This project will help make available to the public an important part of its cultural heritage and I am pleased to be able to support it.”