creativethorp.com

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.  

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.

creative thorp products are now stocked at a wide 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.

Our Christmas ranges of cards and card boxes are now available for mail order purchase or , at trade prices, to shops and retail outlets. Download a mail order catalogue HERE – or contact us if you’d like to order some for your gallery or shop. We’ll be at a number of shows and fairs in November and December – including the Christmas Craft market at Waterperry Gardens and the InHouse Fine Craft & Gourmet Food Fair – both 22-23 November.

The first two editions poetry pamphlets are selling steadily and have been very well received. Steve is available for talks, workshops and readings to support the publications – and you can find out more in the poetry section of our weblog – or going to the special editions website. You can download an editions 2008 flyer and order form HERE.

creative thorp will also be launching a special celebrations service soon – creating top quality and  highly individual stationary and design for wedding, parties and other celebrations. More information will be released soon and you’ll be able to download a creative thorp celebrations brochure from this weblog in the near future.

NEW JULY 2008 - Mary Thorp has just released a new range of her images particularly suitable for large prints and canvases – view them HERE! We’ve also just got back from delivering pictures to The Old Chapel Gallery in Pembridge where Mary is part of the Summer Exhibition from 2nd August! Click HERE for more details.

A lot has happened since our last post. We’ve been busy expanding and are now selling our art, cards and poetry in a number of new galleries. These include some of the most interesting and attractive outlets across the country. You can check these out by clicking on these links:

Iapetus in Malvern, The Old Chapel Gallery in Pembridge, Fisherton Mill in Salisbury, Walford Mill in Wimborne, Waterperry Gardens in Oxford, The Gallery at Bevere near Worcester, Melin Tregwynt in Pembrokeshire and the shop at Westonbirt Arboretum. And not to forget our established outlets in Pembrokeshire – you can find links to these galleries by clicking here – more to be posted soon!

Meanwhile Mary has a small exhibition in the cafe at Fisherton Mill, and will have work in two summer shows. The first is at Tracy Watkin’s wonderful Coterie Design Space in Haverfordwest. The Coterie summer show runs from the 1st July, click here for details. Mary will also be showing work as part of the mixed summer show at the Old Chapel Gallery in Pembridge (where, incidently, Steve’s favourite Black Fox cider is made by the Dunkertons Cider Company). Mary has also had work selected recently to appear in a large commercial project with a well known national brand! More news of this soon.

Steve’s new series of poetry pamphlets entitled editions has been very well-received. You can find full details of these beautiful new products in the poetry page of this blog. You can also download an editions 2008 flyer and order form. To subscribe to the editions series, simply print off the order form, fill it in and send to us with payment.

(click on the thumbnails to see the full cover images)

Exciting times! Our image galleries are being updated, and our new ‘retailer catalogue’ will soon be available for download here and on the main creative thorp website. A new series of poetry pamphlets entitled editions is also being launched – and you can find full details of these beautiful new products in the poetry page of this blog. You can also download an editions 2008 flyer and order form. To subscribe to the editions series, simply print off the order form, fill it in and send to us with payment.

(click on the thumbnails to see the full cover images)

In the meantime here are two of Mary’s new images that are available now as either mounted prints or 150 x 150 cards. To order to go to the creative thorp website.

Blue wind 1

Blue wind 2

On September 23rd from 3 till 4 p.m., Steve Thorp will be leading a ‘Sunday conversation’ at the Nant y Coy arts venue in Pembrokeshire on the theme of ‘the poet in the landscape‘. Peppered with poems from his own boxed collections and work from other poets, the talk will invite reflection and conversation on what it is about landscape that inspires creativity – and particularly poetry. Building on insights drawn from his work as a therapist and counsellor – as well as his poetry – the hour long conversation will hopefully provide both a time for escape and contemplation and leave people looking at the world a little differently!

“One of the things that anyone – poet, artist, farmer, photographer, walker, tourist – loves about Pembrokeshire is the landscape. But it’s not just the landscape of hills and headlands that mean so much to us – there’s something about this place that speaks of belonging.

Yet this will be the same for other places too; so this conversation is about what it is about place, about landscape, that is so important to us and inspires our creativity – our art, photography and our poetry. And it will also be about what we bring of ourselves to the landscape that enables something of meaning and beauty to emerge. Maybe it’s when we MEET the landscape outside with the landscape inside that poetry (and art) emerges. For me, a good poem digs deep inside ourselves.”

Steve Thorp.

A new poem from the forthcoming poetry box west wind and the sea. To find out more about creative thorp click on the link above or search the blog pages!

west wind and the sea

West Wind speaks,
Calls on Sea to rise;
Whispers, roars,
Savagely tears and bites

Sea, obeying, drives
Her legions onshore;
Drives our people inside.

Ghost Moon pulls back
Sea like a blanket.
Rain hunts on the
Trail of West Wind.

Sun bends starlight, says worship me,
Sun greets morning, whispers worship me,
Sun smiles at noon, crows worship me,
Sun falls burning into Sea,
Calls out, dying, worship me.