ANY memories Ava Rose has of her father as she grows up will be fragmented, fleeting shards of senses – partial recollections of a creative, generous man who clasped her tightly to him as he posed for pictures. Ninian Fraser Donald, a freelance designer, was just 33 when a lorry crushed him and his bike on a London street, leaving one-year-old Ava Rose without a father and Kate Evenden without a partner.
A year on, the Scottish art world is uniting to provide the child with a lasting insight into who Mr Donald was – as well as giving her some financial assistance.
Almost 200 artists have submitted new works to be sold in an Edinburgh art gallery
– hundreds of miles from Dalston in the English capital where Ms Evenden, a freelance television art director, is trying to hold together a life for her and her daughter.
Among the contributors are leading names such as Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston, the Earl Haig, Victoria Crowe and John Bellany. Records of their donations will be kept for Ava Rose through a website set up to promote it, but they will also be sold for her, with the proceeds going into a trust fund to pay for her education and other needs.
Many of those exhibiting remember her father as a child, when he and his sister, Saskia, would offer them trays of drinks at the shows their father, George, a painter, would take them to.
Mr Donald snr, who, along with artistic and business colleagues, is behind the exhibition Art For Rosie, said: "When my kids were small I was in the Royal Scottish Academy and other organisations, so my kids were quite used to being dragged around art galleries and taken to those openings and I have visions of them handing around the glasses. They got to know a lot of artists, people older than me, who would say 'are these your children? How nice'."
More than 200 pieces of work have been submitted to Art For Rosie – all unframed and A4-sized, some on card, some on canvas. They are being sold at the Open Eye Gallery in Abercromby Place and through a website, art4rosie.com
Also on sale are 100 CDs featuring a recording of Little Ava Rose, composed by the Nashville musicians Annie and Greg Sims and recorded by an off-Broadway star of Les Miserables.
As well as Ava Rose having the tangible records and financial benefits from the sale, her grandfather is also pleased that the project will result in a web of art, connecting her and her father, stretching across the globe.
"On the card we say it's a fundraising thing, but it's also a means whereby artists can express their sympathy in a very practical way," he said. "I know a lot of very good artists in Scotland and I think this is something they took to because it's a practical expression.
"There's something quite nice about the fact there will be a diaspora of images. There will be all these records of what was given for her and they are art – Scottish art – and that's the connection with the father from Edinburgh.
"They will be visible on the walls of people who know her. It's a wonderful little snapshot for the current practise of art in Scotland."
Although Mr Donald jnr grew up in Edinburgh, he moved to London as an adult. His father lives in Duns in the Borders.
The Ava Rose Evenden Donald Trust Fund was set up as "a springboard into life" for Ava Rose, after her father died before he was able to make financial provisions for his only daughter.
His father said: "It was one of these absurd accidents that are happening all over London, perhaps because of the Olympics – a massive truck crushed over him on his bike."
Mr Donald jnr, a hands-on father, had bathed his daughter that morning last May then dropped her off at nursery before cycling to work. He left his studio on his bike to pick up supplies at about 10:30am, when the accident happened.
The exhibition, although established to raise funds for Ava Rose, is also a means for artists to express sympathy for the tragedy.
Mr Houston said: "I got involved because George Donald was one of my students and taught with me at the College of Art for many years. Over the years, you get friendly with people.
"I met his son many, many years ago, but since he moved to London I met him only once. This is just a little thing we can do and, hopefully, it will be successful and help."
The artist is donating a watercolour of the coast near North Berwick towards the evening.
Dame Elizabeth is giving a still life, which includes a shell and a dragon fruit. "We all knew about what happened," she said. "I didn't know his son, but I knew George – we all taught in the College of Art."
Viewed on the website, the works appear of remarkably high quality, clearly fashioned with thoughtful care.
Tom Wilson of the Open Eye Gallery, which shows most of Mr Donald snr's work, said he and his wife and co-owner, Pam, had not hesitated when the artist approached them with the idea.
Mr Wilson said: "It didn't need much decision making, we just thought it was so important and right we said 'let's go ahead and do it'. This was very touching and we were moved by the tragic story.
"We have Alan Davie, John Bellany, Elizabeth Blackadder, John Houston, Earl Haig – (artists] right across the board. Some of George's own works are really super. It was a very touching story and I think the immediate response is you don't think about it, you just say 'yes'."
He too, knew Mr Donald jnr as a child, but had rarely seen him as an adult.
The pieces start from about £50 and the show runs from Monday until 28 May.
The full article contains 1010 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
