One Incredible Year Later…
As we hurtle towards the one year anniversary of the Thortify Art Hub, I thought it was about time I formally introduced the resident artists to our followers. Those of you who have been popping into the art hub regularly may already have had the pleasure of meeting (in order of occupying a desk) Peter, Lauren, Eva and Ally.
For those of you that haven’t, here they are in their natural habits, as community activist, art enthusiast, holistic healer and human dynamo!
It’s been an absolute JOY to work with them all this year.
Our artists workspaces were built with community in mind. Spacious booths with long desks, creatives can just as easily lean back for a chat as get their head down to focus on what they are working on. The communal space and resources are shared, the kettle is always on, and if you are lucky you might find biscuits in the drawer.
Looking back, I can’t quite believe how quickly this year has gone! From that bleak January, huddled round a heater, when I first threw open the doors to welcome people in to the freshly renovated community art hub, our space in The Place now feels like home. And not just because we have more heaters!
A rich mix of ideas, inspiration and works in progress, it truly feels like a place to create. The addition of The Glasshouse Gallery showed people there was a lot more going on behind the brand-new fire door, and our Friday drop-ins have brought many new faces to The Place. Lots of these have become our regular visitors.
The heart of the hub
We love it when people drop-in. And not just because it gives us the opportunity to show off what we created together. The aim of having a base for Thortify, was always focused on sharing our knowledge, skills and resources with more people. And as we approach another year, invite more people to join us and collaborate with more creatives, we are quite sure the initiative that started out as a tiny ‘self-care’ seed of an idea, will continue to grow – and the community along with it.
Peter Churchill
First to bag the middle desk and bright corner space was Peter Churchill. Peter is a watercolour artist who brought with him oceans of enthusiasm for our art hub project. We are always grateful for his generous nature and inspiring chats, when he pops into the hub. Watching his desk begin to fill with paintings of cityscapes and countryside, it’s was easy to appreciate his keen eye for detail and the care he takes to get the colour intensity just right.
Peter started to paint and draw when he retired in 2016. After experimenting with a number of media he settled on using watercolour. The style he has developed he likens to the illustrative work of the artist Mary Tourtel and her painting of Rupert the Bear, although in his case he likes to focus on urban scenes and buildings.
Recently he has started to explore other media, including charcoal, acrylics and soft pastels. He is also trying to loosen his style and to try to not totally control each mark. Peter does not sell his work, using painting as a key part of his mindfulness routine.
We asked all the artists to tell us one interesting and one fun fact about themselves, so here are Peter’s. You can probably tell that he also enjoys sharing his sense of humour with us too, and this is just one of the things which makes him a valued addition to our close community.
Peter tells us he is very religious. “Arsenal Football Club governs my life!”
Fun fact: He is 347th in line to the throne of England (via the Churchill family). Is that even true…?
Welcome to the art hub
Lauren Hunt
As perhaps the ‘artiest’ third of the Thortify team, it would have been surprising if Lauren hadn’t occupied one of the artist workspaces at some point. With a pretty intense day job, and being a passionate advocate of creativity for self-care, having a place to make and store her artwork in the hub she helped to shape has been valuable to her growth this year as an artist.
For Lauren, paper crafts have been a long-term love. The portability and versatility of collage have provided her with a creative outlet for a number of years, and she is exploring this more in her new space. Lauren also occasionally puts on ‘Collage Club’ events, where she shares her enthusiasm for texture, colour, form and image and has curated a large bank of paper resources that can be used for collage sessions.
Lauren’s style has a distinctively Bauhaus flavour. She has a knack for just knowing what colours and shapes will work well together, and where to create those all important blank spaces in her work. Her collage pieces are instinctive, expressive and often totally absorbing.
An interesting fact about Lauren, is that she and Deb first met at Lauren’s very first craft event, The MollyQueen Marvellous Market, where Lauren sold a range of decoupaged items and papercrafts that included the clever use of old book pages.
Fun fact: Lauren once wrote a poem about hangovers, called ‘Wine Flu’.
Creative self-care at Collage Club
Eva Krasenska
There was a certain air of elusiveness when our second artist Eva Krasenska moved in. Due to her working hours, it was a while before our paths crossed, but we were fascinated by the objects and artwork that appeared on her desk. When we did meet, we soon discovered she was as fond of a cuppa and a chat as us, and we have enjoyed sitting outside in the garden during the warmer months getting to know her.
Eva has always been creative and expresses her gift through different mediums. She has an MA in Scenography, which explores the relationship between the body, space and time in theatre and performance design. She then pivoted to floristry, but the years running a high-energy organic flower business led her to experience burn-out.
Seeking healing and renewed expression, Eva immersed myself in meditation and energy work. She completed a two-year clairvoyant program at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, where she developed the ability to perceive energetic imprints of colour and support healing within the energy field. Her practice has evolved into illustrations for the The Roads Revealed Tarot created by Rev. Shareen Webb.
At present, she is creating acrylic paintings of emotions and energy and exploring natural pigment and vibration of materials and space in which we live. She is creating her next offering under Energy Essence Art. You will see examples of this on The Roads Revealed website linked.
“Having a studio in the Thortify Art Hub is allowing me to feel safe within a mindful community.”
We were thrilled to learn that Eva had once worked with our artist friend Tracey Meek in her first floristry job in Derby nineteen years ago.
Fun fact: Eva caused chaos at the airport with a pack of tarot cards. She was held at the airport because the trial print of the pack of the cards she’d illustrated was in a textile bag and suspected to be a bomb! The string attached to the bag apparently appeared like a wire!
😁 “It was a bombshell!”
Hanging out in the garden
Ally Saunders
Ally Saunders joined us in the summer and made an impact as soon as she arrived. Keen to share her passion for fun and quirky design, she embedded herself in a few short months and has also helped us redesign our multi-purpose space.
As you will discover from her website, Ally is the artist behind Rose and Reverie Glassworks and specialises in creating contemporary handmade glass pieces using traditional stained-glass techniques. Having access to her own workspace has given her scope to try out new ideas and increase productivity, as well as giving access to a supportive creative team.
She describes her blossoming business, as “a project born out of a love of vivid colours and a passion for nature and nerding out” and makes a range of home décor items that perhaps challenge the norm – hands up if you would like to see a stained-glass dinosaur up on your mantlepiece! We said she was fun didn’t we?
Ally has now begun to share her skills with others, and ran a very successful stained glass taster session with some of the Friday crew, and they loved it! She also recently auditioned for a part in The Crucible, which she got! The play opens this Monday 24th November.
Fun fact: She is a descendant of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, a British pirate who trained the infamous Blackbeard! I see a theme here!
Desk space for hire
We have just one artist workspace for hire, which I use when she I’m at at the art hub organising the exhibitions and weekly tasks that keep the whole place running smoothly. Tucked away in the corner opposite Peter’s desk, it’s also a great little hideaway for me to catch up on one of my many writing projects!
The Place Community and Activity Centre has its grass roots firmly embedded in art and creativity. It also has a legacy of health and wellbeing sessions, so it feels so right that we chose to make a home there.
We look forward with anticipation to seeing where 2026 takes us…
Peace and community love
Debra Thortify.
