Archive: This programme is from 2023. The Green Man Gallery closed to the public in December 2024.
In 2023, The Green Man Gallery announced an autumn programme following its summer festival season.
“Audiences flocked to the gallery in July and many of our Buxton Fringe performances were sold out,” events manager Caroline Small said in the 2023 announcement. “Our programme for the rest of the year will keep the spirit of the Fringe alive with a mixture of music, spoken word and theatre, alongside fascinating exhibitions, creative opportunities and an evening of antiques.”
The 2023 programme included collaborations with local and national organisations. “It’s always exciting,” Small said at the time, “but sometimes hard to fit everything in. We are still managed entirely by volunteers.”
Music and words
The programme brought together Buxton Spoken Words and English Touring Opera. A group member was commissioned to write a poem inspired by the operas coming to Buxton Opera House in November 2023, Cinderella and The Coronation of Poppea. The poem was scheduled to premiere at a 9 October evening of writing on the themes of love and power. ETO musicians and singers were also due to give a free lunchtime recital at the gallery.
Music and art
The gallery’s collaboration with musician Henrietta Hill listed a concert by the Endeli 5 Wind Quintet, a recital by cellist Ben Michaels and a return visit by Trilogy Ensemble.
The programme also listed singer-songwriters Charlie Moritz and Sarah McQuaid, as well as the monthly Sunday BuskStop with live music from local musicians.
Thought-provoking theatre and an evening of antiques
Working with Buxton Quakers, the gallery planned an October performance of The Mistake, a play by Michael Mears exploring the development and deployment of the first atomic bomb. “We are delighted to bring this important play to Buxton for one-night only,” Small said in the announcement. “We expect a sell-out so book early.”
Buxton and District Soroptimists also planned Going, Going, going…Gone!, an evening with antiques expert Charles Hanson, as a fundraiser for Diabetes UK.
Regular exhibitions
The gallery’s changing exhibitions formed a backdrop for its live performances.
Visitors could see paintings, mixed media, printmaking, photography, ceramics and work in progress in the upstairs studios. The gallery also offered a payment-by-instalments scheme called Buy Art.
Art for well-being
Illustrative photograph. The gallery’s 2023 programme included the Well-Keepers Art Group, based at the Serpentine Community Garden. The Arts Council England-funded project, developed by eco artist Ruby Sufi, offered workshops for women healing from emotional trauma. The group’s work, inspired by the history of settlements at Lismore Fields, was scheduled for exhibition in late October. Serpentine Community Garden records the exhibition and workshops at the gallery in November 2023.
Get creative
Sufi was also due to lead three free mask-making workshops around Hallowe’en, using traditional craft techniques and materials.
Other activities listed included a watercolour taster with Costa Alecrim, drawing and painting with Geoff Chilton, life drawing and pottery tuition with Earth Pig Pottery.
Illustrative photograph.
The Green Man Gallery was at Hardwick Hall, behind the museum’s former Terrace Road building.
The Green Man Gallery closed to the public on 22 December 2024. Read the gallery’s closure notice.
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