Visual Arts Reviews
I.D.A 26 INCLUSIVE DESIGN + ART EXPO - More Care Design Collective
Participation in the creative industries and cultural involvement for adults with learning disabilities can be difficult and hidden. Much of what there is happens through voluntary sector community initiatives offering vital ways for individuals to communicate, express emotions, and build self-esteem.
More Care Design Collective was established in 2013 for adults with learning disabilities. Some of More Care’s service users have been learning design and making skills in a fully equipped professional workshop in Buxton working on a one to one basis with a talented collaborative teacher. This exhibition is a celebration of the skills, imagination, and creativity of 8 individuals over the past 4 years. Through sharing their work with the wider non-disabled public this work reveals that people with learning disabilities can produce impressive artworks, helping to change perceptions.
You are invited to drop into the Palace Hotel Ballroom between 11am and 5pm Tuesday 21st through Friday 24th July to discover an outpouring of creative expression and talent that would be impressive from any group of design students. The imagery is fresh and fun, and the technical skills and understanding developed through the creative journey have produced 3D as well as graphic images.
This is more than an art & design exhibition, it offers a window into the imaginations and talents of exceptional individuals who we don’t often get the opportunity to see. This showcase aims to foster an environment where individuals feel valued and recognised as part of a wider creative community.
If you drop in between 1:30 and 2:30pm on Tuesday 21st, Wednesday 22nd or Thursday 23rd you will also be treated to a marshal arts demonstration, and on Friday 24th you can enjoy a fashion show 1:30-3:30pm including samurai animal costumes entirely designed, fabricated, and constructed by the More Care service users. Their friends from Bright Ops will be there as well.
As the saying goes ‘there is more to this than meets the eye’. Free to attend and well worth the walk up the hill. Pop along if you can.
Jean Ball
DRAW BUXTON! - Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust
Building on its Sip, Sit and Sketch initiative for the Fringe, Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust has this year introduced Draw Buxton!, a one-day, open-to-all challenge to depict the town. Draw Buxton! is perhaps a misnomer as in fact any medium was welcome with the result that, somewhat fatally, I decided to have a go at collage.
Parking myself outside the Pavilion Gardens, I gradually filled my wooden table with pieces of coloured paper including experiments with paint and texture that I had been saving for just such an occasion. Less is more I’d told myself when picking out these materials but when it came to it, I found myself hungry for more colours and started using Fringe performers’ flyers as part of it all. The scene in front of me gradually morphed from the Bandstand at any old time to the Bandstand on Fringe Saturday with its giant orange Fringe, multiple orange balloons, and - as the 3pm deadline to enter the public vote became imminent - actual performers. My collage became as manic and busy as I felt but when I eventually saw it on the wall among other entries from both adults and children, I decided I rather liked its energy, thrown together as it was.
Looking at the works from the day was fun in itself with a number of artists, Mister Hope among them, being inspired by St Ann’s Well, others taking time out to admire Buxton’s incredible architecture and one child creating a brilliant tiger - Buxton is in the eye of the beholder after all. The display was initially at The Crescent but is now in the Pump Room at least for today (Sunday) and possibly longer. Everyone is a winner of course but the actual prizes were one by Andrew Shoolbred, Aubrey Hope (daughter of Mister!) and Sandra Perkin.
Draw Buxton! has been well supported by local organisations and businesses with attractive prizes including a botanical one sponsored by Buxton Garden Trail so I hope it continues and attracts more entrants in future - there were 18 this year.
Stephanie Billen
SUMMER SHOWCASE - Peak District Artisans
Peak District Artisans are celebrating 35 years of individual creativity and collective excellence at Buxton Fringe with a two-day showcase of contemporary art work in the Octagon.
When I arrive shortly after the doors open the hall is already busy with people admiring the wares on display and there is a gentle buzz of conversation as artists explain their creative processes and inspiration.
As my two-hour visit progresses the noise increases and the conversations get louder as red stickers start to appear on works around the hall.
With 40 exhibiting artists it’s hard to know where to start given there is so much choice.
I resolve to be strict and go clockwise and then move inwards, within 5 minutes I’ve already broken my plan, distracted by the bright orange pops of colour from a Sheffield city street scene by Amadora art. I learn that the effect is created by painting the background orange then overlaying the scene leaving gaps for the orange to shine through. I think this and similar conversations with other artists is my favourite bit of the exhibition. Learning more about the process of creating a piece of art or the inspiration behind it.
All the artists are really friendly and delighted to chat, some have brough their tools with them, such as Emily Murch’s textile loom and Steph Jansen’s silk and felt samples, others have explanatory boards and photos like Thomas Petit glass. Other artists offer workshops in their crafts, one assures me that you don’t need to be artistic to enjoy creating something, this is good news for me.
Of course, you can just wander around zooming in on whatever takes your eye. With such a range on show there is sure to be something to appeal to everyone and to every pocket from giant size collages made from cut up magazines to greetings cards, small pots and jewellery.
A number of the artists are supporting Chesterfield food bank with a chosen piece offered at a reduced price.
The summer showcase continues tomorrow, go along enjoy the visual feast and maybe treat yourself while supporting these talented local artists. Buxton Octagon Sunday 19th 10 am to 4pm Free entry.
Carole Garner
PIANO PIECES : DISMANTLED AND DISPLAYED - Hugo Edwardes
Piano Pieces is at first sight what it is. Pieces of pianos arranged and displayed by local artist Hugo Edwardes. Yes, its quirky and a bit out there, and you may be tempted to think that that’s all there is. But as with Hugo’s previous showings, the devil is in the detail.
The show is small in terms of space but big in terms of what it demands of the viewer from the simple premise of what is a piano? Is it just a musical instrument, now the product of mass production to be simply thrown away when no longer needed, or is there more to it? Using his familiar strategy of deconstruction to reveal inner secrets, Hugo has created a show which opens up the workings of a piano to let us see, consider and re-evaluate what a piano is.
There is a background to the show and there are snippets of the stories associated with the collection of pianos from around the area and beyond. Not all those collected are physically represented in the show but a memory of them (and their last owners) is. Seven pianos feature in and around the exhibition space, possibly where you least expect to see them. Each has been carefully dismantled and for the most part there are small collections of component parts from boards to shoulders to actions, but there are also arrangements of unnamed but occasionally recognisable parts suggesting something of the obsessive nature of deconstruction at this level.
The lives of things is something I frequently think about in my day job, and some of the instruments here have travelled far, known many people – probably of varying degrees of musical abilities – and suffered ignominies no doubt. Here is their last hurrah where the skill, attention to detail and unexpected design flourishes that went into their creation are offered for one final act. If you want to be a part of the story, you can take pieces away with you.
Amid all of this, Hugo may well be on hand to add more of the story behind the show and he’s happy to so. Accompanying the exhibition is of course piano music, but specifically composed for the event.
Piano Pieces continues on 18th-19th and 24th-26th at The Bungalow. Do go and support a local artist who always produces interesting work!
Ian Parker Heath
ART IN THE OCTAGON - High Peak Artists
‘Don’t paint things, paint light…’ That’s the kind of excellent tip you get when you engage with High Peak Artists at this bumper exhibition at the Octagon. This particular gem was from landscape painter Paul Morin, who was himself quoting an inspirational teacher from his past. He was engaged in working on an oil treescape when I passed by, keeping it upside down so as to help him keep that key focus on the light alone.
It was great to see so many artists doing what they do, whether it was Pauline Townsend peacefully silk-painting, Peter Nelson demonstrating wood turning or jeweller/artist Emma Sidwell intricately bringing to life a scene of Bamburgh Castle using pen brushes. Visiting artist Rob Wilson had started on a charcoal sketch of a sunset over the Crescent. It was exciting to think that if I came again - and why wouldn’t I? - it would have progressed to include some of his colourful layers of acrylics, dress patterns, magazine print and more. His wife, textile artist Sally Wilson, was also there with her eye-catching lampshades combining embroidery and recycled fabrics.
With around 27 artists involved, there really was art of every description and in every medium and some delightful surprises along the way. In addition to tempting us with collage kits for sale, Fringe cover artist Andrea Joseph had a bird box vending machine delivering tiny original drawings. There was plenty of affordable work ranging from Anne Humberstone’s highly tactile keyrings, notebooks and more using Harris Tweed, to Adele Kime’s textured silver jewellery.
Long-time Fringe-goers may think they know all about High Peak Artists but there is real excitement in seeing their latest work, the fabric and thread artist Tracey Coverley, who has an exhibition of her own upstairs at the Pavilion Gardens’ Art Cafe, showing me her compelling new portrait of Vivienne Westwood for example.
There are two more days to appreciate this exhibition open from 10am to 5pm on July 14th and 15th.
Stephanie Billen
BUXTON PHOTO CHALLENGE 2026 - High Peak Photography Club
Whether you are a self-professed photographer or a point-and-shoot happy snapper, this challenge should appeal. It sounds a little bit like Mission Impossible...'your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to capture'...However, it is not like that at all! It is decidedly fun!
Given six themes, chosen seemingly at random, each challenger is required to gather images on camera or phone within a certain set of rules designed to level out the playing field between professional and snapper.
Running for the last twelve years or so, the event has become an annual 'must-do' for many Fringegoers. The themes this year included 'Today's weather' and 'cool,' opposites on a scorching summer day in Buxton and requiring some careful thought.
As a point-and-shooter, my wife took the lead as we ticked off the challenges, one-by-one, approaching folk in the park and making friends as we explained our purpose. The element of fun was always there, people like posing and were more than happy to oblige. However, the geese were not so kind to us, but then again, there is a saying about working with children and animals!
We enjoyed taking part and kept our fingers crossed that the judges like our invention, creativity and interpretation of the themes.
David Carlisle
BUXTON FLOWERPOT TRAIL - Funny Wonders
The Buxton Flowerpot Trail is not to be missed for two vital reasons. Firstly it takes you into all the nooks and crannies of the wider town, causing you to stop and stare whilst secondly it celebrates the creativity, ingenuity and desire to take part in a community event by ordinary people just like us, for ordinary people just like us.
This visual arts event is not a showcase of, nor for, performers, but is a display of what can be achieved by any of us even when using the most basic of resources - in this case the unglamorous, empty flowerpot . There is something totally appealing and beguiling about a set of boring brown and black plant pots being transformed into the recognisable and very loved characters from the children's stories we are all familiar with.
There is an official map for the trail which can be bought at various venues in the town for £1 or downloaded for free . A total of 73 participants across town have come together to present their amazingly well thought out, sometimes witty and always delightful flower pot creations for your enjoyment, and each of their locations are identified on this map..
As the theme of the Trail is Children's Stories , there are many of the expected characters such as Pooh Bear and his friends but there are also those long forgotten names from childhoods of many decades ago too. Shops, homes, nurseries, entertainment venues and businesses have come up trumps across Buxton to deliver a town wide installation which cannot fail to delight young and old alike .and everyone who has entered into the spirit of this event deserves a pat on the back.
Most of the displays can be seen through shop windows or are outside buildings and can be viewed at anytime , others such as at the library and in the Pavilion Gardens are inside the building and can only be viewed during daytime opening hours.
Do be aware that the displays are widespread. At a comfortable pace I viewed 20 in just over an hour when walking from the Pavilion Gardens car park via the Opera house to the centre of town and then up to the High Street and back.. Displays are also located in Harpur Hill, Fairfield, Burbage and in the area around the Cavendish Hospital. A car could come in handy for these further distances or splitting your tour up over several days.
On a glorious early summer's evening with the town buzzing with the funfair , the ice cream van still with a queue and warmth and sunlight to spur you on, this trail comes highly recommended for all ages. Step back in time and into childhood and seek out these wonderful pieces of art . You may be inspired to take part too next year. Keep those flowerpots at the ready !!!
This event is on until the 26th July
Julie Alexander
SIP, SIT AND SKETCH - Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust
Sip, Sit and Sketch is described as a chance to capture a moment and a scene in time — and it really does live up to that. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no artist, so I felt a little nervous about turning up and potentially embarrassing myself. Thankfully, I needn’t have worried at all.
When you arrive, you can choose to sit inside or outside, depending on what suits you best. You also don’t need to bring any equipment with you. For the price of a drink from the counter, you can help yourself to the art supplies provided — there was a handy trolley filled with clipboards, paper, pencils, paints, brushes and more.
I found myself a seat outside and ordered a cappuccino. Rather than trying to capture the wonderful Buxton Crescent in all its glory, I decided to focus on smaller details. I began with one corner of the building, then moved on to sketching an archway and the door beyond it. What surprised me most was how sketching makes you really look at something. I walk past the Crescent regularly, but I had never properly noticed the stonework or the intricate decoration before. It was completely absorbing. Sitting outside in the sunshine with a frothy coffee while drawing felt wonderfully indulgent. I didn’t have to show anyone the finished result, but I left feeling relaxed, refreshed and just a little more accomplished.
If you’re looking for a relaxing activity in a beautiful setting, I can’t recommend this enough.
This event is on until the 26th July
April Irwin
