Tag: scottish makers

Winter 2025

Hooperhart

The clocks have gone back and yet again the arrival of winter has taken me by surprise!

It’s been such a busy few months already with new stockists, new products, and winter events to prepare for, which this year are starting EARLY!

You can now find my dioramas, cards and accessories in 3 lovely venues on the Scottish coast – The Beehive in the East Neuk of Fife, Hilde Gallery in East Lothian, and Gallery 48 on the Black Isle. I’ve recently introduced 4 new coastal dioramas to the range, so this has been an ideal development!

This summer I finally stopped procrastinating about going down the greetings cards route (no time to sit down and work out the designs, let alone find a reliable/affordable printer). However, thanks to my studio buddy Alison Price I discovered Redcliffe Imaging and finally did it! The response has been brilliant, and I really wish I had done it sooner. My designs work really well in this format (just a touch bigger than actual size), and I think they are very much appealing to folk who like my work but might not be able afford to buy an original. Plus it’s a great way of getting my work seen by a wider audience…so better late than never!

Now, onto the winter events:

credit: William James Chalmers

I was very honoured to be invited to show my work at Artful 2025. This exhibition showcases work from some extremely talented UK and international artists, all housed in the beautiful Callendar House, Falkirk. Entry is free and the exhibition runs until January 11th, 2026.

The lovely folk at Made In Stirling have also invited me back for another Winter Market:

credit: Made in Stirling

This 2 month market starts on November 2nd and runs until January 3rd, 2026 and is a great place to find gorgeous gifts this winter, all made in Scotland.

Now, onto my in-person events!

Kicking off with a big one! Two days at the fabulous Aberdeen Art Gallery with the tremendous Tea Green

Always a pleasure to take part in, you can a truly phenomenal collection of Scotland’s best artists, makers and designers. If you can’t make it to Aberdeen, I will also be at the beautiful Burrell Collection in Glasgow on Saturday, November 8th ONLY.

On Saturday, November 15th you can find me at Strathearn Arts in Crieff – my first time at this venue, and I am very much looking forward to the hot chocolate and homebaking!

My final in-person event of the season will be the winter weekend extravaganza at our studios in Creative Exchange, Perth – a fun one to end on!

Hope to see you at one of these events but remember if you can’t buy from me in person this year, I will be stocking up my online Folksy shop the week beginning December 8th. And you can always drop me a message through Instagram and Facebook.

Ta ta for now!

Cal x

Winter Events 2024

Hooperhart

So once again time has befuddled me and we are somehow on the cusp of the clocks going back and being plunged into darkness once again. Yes, it’s late October and the busy season is just around the corner, so I’m going to cut to the chase and let you know where you can find me and my work in person this winter.

Tea Green at the Burrell Collection:

On November 9th & 10th I will be returning to the glorious Burrell Collection in Glasgow with Tea Green Events which are always top notch, showcasing the best of Scotland creative talent. Open 10-5, free entry.

Something Different For Christmas:

Another Perthshire one, this time in our nearest village, the delighful Dunning! It’s a special occasion, being SDFC’s 25th and sadly FINAL year, so you will not get another chance to visit this lovely, twinkly, super festive event. Doors open at 11.30am on Sunday, November 17th at Dunning Village Hall, Perthshire.

Creative Exchange Winter Market:

Creative Exchange in Perth is where I spend most of my time – home to my studio share and my part-time job! The winter market will showcase work from super-talented creatives from Perthshire and beyond. PLUS there will be an Open Studios event where you can find, among others, my sibling Ceri White and my studio buddy Ali Price. Not only that – there will be mulled wine AND a pop-up cafe! It’s a great building and a hub of activity so this will be a really enjoyable event.

You can find me there on November 30th & December 1st, 10am-4pm.

The Briggait Winter Market:

Back to Glasgow for my second WASPS event, this time at the beautiful Briggait. There’s been a major refurb and development of the Briggait’s Clydeside Market Halls which is due to be unveiled imminently – another reason to stop by on the market weekend of December 7th & 8th. Doors open 11am – 5pm.

Made in Stirling Christmas Market:

For those who live somewhere in between Perthshire and Glasgow, there’s the Made in Stirling Christmas Market, which runs for 2 months starting on November 4th.

Hope to see you at one of these events but remember if you can’t buy from me in person this year, I will be stocking up my online shops Folksy the week beginning December 9th. And you can always drop me a message through Instagram and Facebook.

Ta ta for now!

Cal x

Perth Museum

Hooperhart

Hello again! I hope you have had a good start to 2024; for one reason and another it’s been an unusually busy one here at HooperHart Headquarters. The first 3 months of the year were mostly devoted to a project which I received VACMA funding for last year…I’m going to delve into that in a separate post but for now I quickly want to share some exciting news with you.

Firstly, the brand new Perth Museum opened its doors on Easter weekend after a long-awaited refurbishment and repurposing of the former City Hall. The museum’s main attraction will undoubtedly be the Stone of Destiny, returning home to Perthshire for the first time in 700 years. Another good reason to visit though is the museum shop, where you can purchase a selection of my work! As you can imagine I was very chuffed to be asked (who doesn’t love a museum shop?) and also encouraged that they were approaching local makers to be a part of it, celebrating Perth’s new UNESCO status as a Creative City of Craft.

Now to my second piece of news – I have moved in to an actual proper studio! It’s in Perth Creative Exchange which is a fantastic former school building near North Inch Park. It’s lovely and bright, light and warm – no more struggling to see or jostling for space in my cold and dark spare room.

I’m sharing with the very talented Alison Price in a really wonderful community of creative people. After spending most of my time working on my own for the past 8 years, this comes as a really welcome change…it can be very isolating being a one-woman band. After only a week at the studio it feels like home already.

In addition to all this I started a new part-time job and joined the committee of Perthshire Open Studios. This year we have a comprehensive programme of events, including a month-long summer exhibition at the very grand Perth Civic Hall, a showcase exhibition at the beautiful Barn Gallery at Blackruthven, and of course Open Studios itself at the end of August. Keep an eye on my ‘shop’ page where you will find details as they become available.

Well, I think that’s enough excitement for one post! I’ll be back with an in-depth one on my project soon.

Thanks for reading x

Thank You & Happy New Year!

Hooperhart

Well, that’s the festive fair season over for me for another year, and once again I am pleased and relieved to report that it was enjoyably frantic! Back in October I was quite concerned about how it was going to go, with online sales down and the harsh reality of the Cost of Living Crisis properly kicking in for many of us.

Happily however, people turned out in their hundreds (and sometimes thousands!) to support local events. Fortunately for small creative businesses like myself, folk seem to be really considering carefully how they spend their money and who they spend it with, and they also really appreciate handmade craft and the uniqueness of it…I can’t tell you how much all the purchases, interest, kind comments and general enthusiasm for my work means to me. It gives me such a boost and carries me through the times when my motivation is at a low, and for that I am very grateful.

Some of my favourite HooperHart pieces from 2023

2024 will likely bring many challenges, financially and creatively; Production costs continue to rise, and I need to re-evaluate my materials and range to make everything more streamlined and sustainable…and of course like many creative types I have lots of ideas, some of which I’m pretty sure cannot be brought to fruition using laser-cut wood! It would be lovely to devote some time to experimentation…but I think I might have said all this at the end of last year..!

Whatever happens I will be back next year with news of what I’m up to over the coming year.

For now I’ll take my leave with a massive THANK YOU to everyone who supported my artistic endeavours this year…I wish you happiness and good health in 2024!

Inverness Creative Academy & Perth Creative Exchange

Hooperhart

So amazingly there’s only two more events left in the festive fair calendar and it’s two that I have really been looking forward to!

First up we’ll be hitting the road north once again and heading for Inverness to the beautiful Creative Academy! The newly restored former Inverness Royal Academy building in the heart of the city is now the first creative hub of the Highlands established by Wasps, providing studio/office spaces, events spaces and galleries. The Winter Market will take place in the beautifully refurbished Gym Hall and Science Room.

Spread over 3 days, we’ll be there on Friday, Nov 24th 4pm-8pm, Sat 25th & Sun 26th 10am-4pm.

The following weekend we will be back closer to home at one of my favourite events: the Winter Market & Open Studios at Perth Creative Exchange!

I spend a lot of time at Creative Exchange, whether it’s using the machines at the Famous Grouse ideas room, or having stationery printed at Craigrossie Printing or even just visiting Ceri White Studios, it’s a hub of activity and this is always a really enjoyable event.

You can find me there on Sat Dec 2nd & Sun Dec 3rd 10am-4pm.

Remember if you can’t buy from me in person this year, I will be stocking up my online shops Folksy and Etsy the week beginning December 4th.

One final thing before I go – just a wee reminder that the HooperHart 2024 calendar is available from my online stores and at all my events! Each month is illustrated by a miniature scene reflecting the time of year, inspired by the wonderful wildlife, countryside and coastlines of the British Isles. I am donating £1 from the sale of each calendar to Hogscroft Hedgehog Rescue, Perthshire, who were flooded during October’s storms.

Well, I had better go and get on with more making before our impending road trip to the Highlands! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic festive season!

Aberdeen Art Gallery Festive Market

Hooperhart

So somehow it’s November in a few days’ time, and once again I am wondering how that happened (like I do every year). Autumn obviously decided to take the year off – wet and windy weather has been the order of the month, and with darkness falling at 5 o’clock we seem to have been plunged rather than eased into winter. On the upside it means that the festive fair season is just around the corner and this year it’s kicking off with a very exciting one – Tea Green’s Festive Market at Aberdeen Art Gallery

It’s exciting for me because I have never done a fair in Aberdeen, and it will also be nice to revisit the city I lived in for two years as a teenager (back in the mists of time) while I got my portfolio together to apply for art school!

I’ll be there all weekend, November 4th & 5th from 10am – 4pm. With a fabulous line up of over 50 of the best independent creative business based in Scotland, it’s the ideal place to start ticking off your Christmas shopping list!

See below all the places you can find me over the next two months, and I’ll be back soon with more details

Stay safe and cosy!

Thank you!

Hooperhart

Well, that’s the busy season over for me for another year and I have to say it was rather frantic, but in a good way! Coming into it I was quite concerned about how it was going to go, particularly as online sales in 2022 had taken a worrying nose-dive even before the harsh reality of the Cost of Living Crisis started to kick in. However I’m pleased and relieved to report that I was very pleasantly surprised (on some occasions completely gobsmacked!) at just how many people turned out to support local events and small creative businesses. Maybe this year folk are really considering carefully how they spend their money and who they spend it with, possibly buying less but buying thoughtfully…I don’t know but whatever it is I am extremely grateful!

There is no doubt that many challenges lie ahead for most of us financially in 2023; the price of everything is rising and there can’t be a single small business in the UK who will not be affected by this. For myself, production costs have already increased substantially over the past few months…this plus a countrywide shortage of my main material (plywood) has been preying on my mind, and I know that at some point soon I will have to sit down and seriously consider how I can make changes in order to continue doing what I love and what I have worked so hard to develop over the past six years. Looking on the bright side, reflection and re-evaluation are not usually a bad thing, so I’m hopeful I can up with a workable plan!

Whatever happens I will be back next year with news of what I’m up to…in the meantime check out the sale in my Folksy shop – starting on Boxing Day!

I’ll take my leave with a massive THANK YOU to everyone who supported my artistic endeavours this year…I wish you happiness and good health this festive season!

The Yard Dundee

Hooperhart

I’m trying to be more consistent/frequent with my blog posts so here’s another one!

I’m just back from a lovely break away on the Isle of Bute to celebrate a Big Birthday which was just idyllic. The sun was out so we were mostly beach-based, and I even went swimming IN THE SEA! Twice! At the beginning of this year I didn’t think that was ever going to be possible due to an ongoing health issue, so I was over the moon to be feeling physically able to do it. I was rewarded with sight of four seals popping up to see what all the splashing about was! All in all the perfect end to the summer.

Anyway, it’s back to business this week, particularly with the start of the busy season just around the corner. The calendar is filling up with markets and fairs so I thought this would be a good time to mention that the first one is coming up soon:

The Yard, 71 Brewing, Dundee

You can find me (as Rudy and the Rowan Tree) at the Yard @ 71 Brewing, Ure Street, Dundee from 11-4 on Saturday, October 1st – there will be loads of fellow creatives, guest food traders and DJs, plus it’s a really cool venue with great beer if that’s your thing!

Hope to see you there!

Autumn Almanac

Hooperhart

Another summer of record-breaking temperatures comes to an end…spectacularly in Perthshire with torrential rain and flooding replacing scorched earth and water shortages.

As we move into September, I’m trying not to focus on the implications of these extremes in the weather and staving off the melancholic thoughts by looking forward to my birthday (it’s a big one!), enjoying the changing colours on my daily walks, and planning the rest of the year’s making.

Wooden Autumn Decorations by HooperHart on Folksy
Fox Brooches by HooperHart on Folksy
Starlit Fox mini framed diorama by HooperHart on Folksy

The calendar is filling up with festive events and it’s looking like I’ll be a bit busier with these than last year, now that things have returned to normal (whatever that is!). Keep checking my ‘SHOP’ page for details of where you can find me in person this winter. See you soon 🙂

Tea Green Marketplace Month

Hooperhart

Just a quickie to let you know that there’s a month of online events starting on July 1st organised by the brilliant Tea Green Events There will be three weekends of online markets (I’ll be taking part in the first one on July 3rd & 4th), an exclusive online shop, virtual open studios, online workshops and even a real life treasure hunt!

There will be hundreds of amazingly talented Scotland-based artists, designers and makers involved, and I’ll also have a special offer available for the entire month, so follow Tea Green on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all the events.

Hope to see you there!