A couple points you might consider:

There will never be more than one user of the database, so opening and closing connections isn't as big a deal. You can open the connection right off, and leave it open. I guess I have done a DAL, business objects, and UI kind of an interface, but they certainly weren't distributed.

Another point that is pretty important, in my opinion, is to use only one form. Searching around this forum, you will see me and others expand on this point, but the key is that loading a form takes measurable time. A far better approach is to use panels and swap them in and out of the visible area. This is effectively instantaneous, but it makes organization a bit more important.