Buxton exhibition shows changing High Peak landscape through the eyes of two artists decades apart

The Farm on the Hill, which opened at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery in December, is a collection of 43 works by David Lowther based around a particular location near Thornsett which first inspired him before he had even realised.

David, a member of the High Peak Artists group, said: “This hill started popping up in all of my work and I couldn’t work out what it was. At the time I was going up and down the Sett Valley Trail and one day it just caught my eye and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s it.’”

The landmark was a livestock farm, Highwalls, which has overlooked the valley between New Mills and Hayfield since the 19th century – and it was not the first time someone had noticed the picture perfect view.

David said: “I Googled the location, I didn’t even know the name of the place, and a painting by the artist Brian Nolan popped up.

“I loved the colour and the tone. It was just the perfect layout for me, this building on a hill at the top of the painting with this kind of windy perspective coming down to the front.”

He added: “At the time, I was doing a lot of pictures of lanes in the Peak District so its appeal was immediate. I went online to check Brian out, but sadly he passed away in 2019.

“I was genuinely upset that I’d missed the chance to meet him. He was from Manchester, I’m from Salford and we’d both fallen in love with the Peak District.”

As it turns out, however, Brian’s original painting was acquired by the museum in 1988, and has been hung alongside David’s show to give visitors another interpretation of the vista.

David said: “I was gobsmacked when staff asked if I’d like them to bring the painting up, I said ‘yes please’ and minutes later it was on the wall. Seeing the artworks up together, completes the story for me.”

The exhibition is a window into a changing world around the farm, such as the 96 homes being built on a field just down the slope.

David said: “It was gutting seeing the diggers move in. I first noticed something was happening when the sheep disappeared. That’s it now, the view is changed forever.”

Over 18 months, mostly working in the open air, David’s captured many sides to the hill’s character. One of his favourites pieces is a drawing made on the same spot as Brian’s painting.

He said: “I used various materials depending on other work I was making at the time: pastel, gouache, collage, ink. Some of the drawings are quite magical. People have said they look like fairy stories, especially the black and white ones looking up through the trees. They’ve got a kind of Sleeping Beauty feel to them.

“I like it when I make things look different, enhance them, make them more dramatic than they really are. It’s like it’s a castle but it’s not, it’s a little farm on a hill.”

The free exhibition runs until Saturday, March 25. For visitor information, see facebook.com/BuxtonMuseumandArtGallery.

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