creativethorp.com

Contact – mary@creativethorp.com, or steve@creativethorp.com or phone 07949553029.

At last the snow has melted and we’ve come out of hibernation – preparing for our Spring schedule. Notable events already in our diary include the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington from 24-28th March, and (for trade customers and galleries) the British Crafts Trade Fair in Harrogate from 11-13 April.
Mary still has an exhibition in the Tearoom at Waterperry Gardens until the end of January, and has work at Arteria with Gallery 23 in Lancaster. In the new year she has new exhibitions in the planning, and we will be publishing a fuller schedule of shows in the near future. Steve’s will be reading at the Boxfield Gallery in Stevenage to support the launch of a new exhibition featuring a range of artists including Kim Major-George, whose images inpired Life (see below). He will also be speaking to the Chiltern Writers group on May 13th.  Details of a new poetry publication will also be posted here soon soon!

Contact – mary@creativethorp.com, or steve@creativethorp.com or phone 07949553029.

After an eventful and exciting Autumn schedule of shows and exhibitions the creative thorps are looking forward to some downtime. Over the last few weeks we’ve met some wonderful people and had some lovely feedback about our work.

We’ve got a few more creative events to tell you about. First, this coming weekend, the 5th and 6th December, Mary will be at the prestigious Handmade in Britain Christmas event in Bath and Steve will be at the Swalcliffe Christmas Market in Swalcliffe Church on the 5th December. From today (1st December) and for two months, Mary has an exhibition in the Tearoom at Waterperry Gardens, and on 10th December from 5.30 p.m., Steve will be reading from his new poetry pamphlet life at the Cafe Bookshop at Cranfield University. Mary will also be exhibiting as part of Snug@23 at Arteria with Gallery 23 in Lancaster. We’d love to see you at any of these events!

Contact – mary@creativethorp.com, or steve@creativethorp.com or phone 07949553029.

At a recent show we met Kim Major-George, an artist producing the most amazing spiritual collograph images. Steve and Kim got talking about Kim’s new exhibition, and a new poetry pamphlet Life was born: 22 new poems (read two HERE) and Kim’s stunning Buddha images on the front and inside! The resultant exhibition  at Hitchin Museum can be seen until the 31st October. In the Large Gallery  is Kim Major-George’s ‘Wisdom of Peace’ exhibition, and in the Small Gallery Steve has an exhibition of mounted and framed poems from the new  collection.

The new Life booklet can be purchased for £8.50 from creative thorp’s marketplace and makes a wonderful gift for this festive season. Click HERE to download a 2010 creative thorp’s Christmas catalogue including unique cards, and a special limited edition 2010 calender designed and produced by hand by Mary – or go the creative thorp marketplace.

click on thumbnail

Upcoming events – We’ll be at four large shows in the Autumn – the centrepiece of our schedule will be the Country Living Christmas Fair from the 11-15 November at the Business Design Centre in London. We’ll also be at the Abingdon Crafts Festival from 21st-25th October, the Art, Design and Craft Show at Newmarket Racecourse from 6-8th November, and Sparkle at Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington from 20-22nd November.

We are also attending the lovely Christmas Market at Waterperry Gardens on the 28 and 29th November, and on the 28th November we will be at the Crypt at St Michael’s Without in Bath for an Appletree Craft Show.  Mary will be exhibiting in the Cafe at Waterperry over December and January , and also at Arteria with Gallery 23 in Lancaster. Further details of these as soon as we get them.

Contact – mary@creativethorp.com, or steve@creativethorp.com or phone 07949553029.

creative thorp’s  Autumn schedule of shows, exhibitions and poetry readings is building and details and dates are below.

On the 4th October we’ll be reading and exhibiting at the inaugaral Festival of Light in Hope Bagot, organised by the wonderful Utopia XO. There’s be poetry, music, good food, local cider and lots more from 4.30 p.m. Click HERE, or on the thumbnail below to view and download a flyer for the event – and please feel free to circulate to anyone you think might like to attend!

Don’t forget to check out what came out of our summer road trip up to Tighnabruiach on the Cowal Penisula in Scotland.  Steve did a well received poetry reading at the Tighnabruiach Gallery - click HERE to see the press cutting from the event; and two new images of the trip from Mary’s lens can be found in the Art Gallery – numbers 66 and 67. Poetry from the trip is being complied into a new box or publication – details soon.

Incoming Squall by Mary Thorp, 2009

Boats on Kyle by Mary Thorp, 2009.

This summer has been busy for creative thorp with a hectic schedule of shows, exhibitions and poetry readings. One highlight was a road trip up to Tighnabruiach on the Cowal Penisula in Scotland. This most beautiful and friendly part of the world has inspired new images and words – and Steve did a well received poetry reading at the Tighnabruiach Gallery - click HERE to see the press cutting from the event! To order these as mounted prints or canvases, go to the Art Gallery (image numbers 66 and 67).

Finally, this month we are at  Bristol Balloon Fiesta on the 6th to the 9th August and at the Wrest Park Craft and Design Festival over the bank holiday, 29th – 31st August. Steve is also doing a poetry talk and reading on August 20th at the wonderful Cafe Bookshop on Cranfield University campus. Click HERE for a flyer for the event.  

In June, creative thorp have been at the wonderful Garden Show at Stansted Park in Hampshire followed closely by the The Cambridge 800 Town, Gown & Country Show on the 13th and 14th June.  On 1st and 2nd August we’ll be at the Poole Town and Country Show at Upton House in Dorset, and at the Bristol Balloon Festival on the 6th to the 9th August. We hope to see you at one of these events – and we’ll be posting new dates very shortly! Please also remember you can buy our cards, boxes and books online at the creative thorp marketplace.

New editions poetry pamphlets published!

The latest two pamphlets in the editions poetry series have been published and have had a great response from readers and are selling well. You can order the full set at a special price of £28 for all four booklets from the creative thorp marketplace saving you £6 on the RRP of £8.50 per booklet.

For Artweeks in Oxfordshire, Mary was invited to be a featured artist at the prestigious Waterperry Gardens gallery and will be there in  in person on the 2nd May and 16th May. At the beginning of June, we’ll be at the Garden Show at Stansted Park in Hampshire followed by the The Cambridge 800 Town, Gown & Country Show on the 13th and 14th June.  More summer events will be posted in the near future.

The latest two pamphlets in Steve’s editions poetry series have now been published. This completes the series and the full set is available  at a special price of £28 for all four booklets from the creative thorp marketplace saving you £6 on the RRP of £8.50 per booklet. The booklets have had a great response at shows and in galleries, and we’ll be highlighting editions 3 and 4 on this blog and on the creative thorp website over the summer.

In some ways, this is the most exciting weblog entry from creative thorp.  We’ve just updated and re-launched our website and we are really pleased with it. The look and feel is familiar, but it is cleaner in design and far quicker to navigate than before. Now you can purchase cards, art card boxes and poetry gifts directly from the website via. a secure Paypal system. Not only that but there is a new art gallery section where you can view all of Mary’s current images that are available as prints and canvases.

This follows the opening of our online shop at the Etsy website in February. Etsy is a wonderful place – “your place to buy and sell all things handmade”.

We have also a number of forthcoming events and exhibitions. First we’ll be attending the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate from the 5th to the 7th of April. At the end of April we’ll be exhibiting and selling at the Garden Show at Firle Place – a beautiful venue in East Sussex, and in May, Mary is one of a small number of artists in residence at Waterperry Gardens as part of their Artweeks Exhibition.

Finally, Steve’s new poetry pamphlets – the third and fourth in the well-received editions series are launched in April, in time for the shows and exhibitions. More news on these soon – but in the meantime you can find out more about series at the editions weblog.

 creative thorp have just opened our online shop at the Etsy website. Etsy is a wonderful place – “your place to buy and sell all things handmade”. You can buy a range of our art card and poetry gifts from our Etsy shop – and we’ll be posting some of Mary’s artwork there in the future.

Click on our Etsy shop logo below to be taken directly to our shop:

Click on the logo below to find out more about Etsy:

More information soon about our  2009 shows – and Mary’s stunning new range of canvasses just in! You can also find some images from  some of our 2008 exhibitions HERE  These illustrate the stall set up and product range.

We had a busy run-up to Christmas with successful events and shows at Waterperry Gardens in Oxford (where Mary has been invited to be an ‘artist in residence’ during the Artweeks event in May – more details soon), the LandmarkArts Centre in Teddington, and the British Crafts exhibition at Chiswick Town Hall. Great fun and we met some lovely people!

In 2009 we’re planning to launch new ranges and products and attend a number of events throughout the year, which we’ll post here. In the meantime, our main website carries a wide range of our images and products, and Steve’s editions weblog also has information on his well received poetry pamphlet series.

creative thorp products are now stocked at a range of outlets across the UK. If you are a retail outlet, gallery or bookshop interested in stocking our products, then we can take orders now, so please contact us directly for trade prices and terms – email mary@creativethorp.com or ring 07979906935.