Media Contact: Trish Samson, Webmaster 1-866-868-7001 or email

July 14, 2011

The Osterville Garden Club held a Garden Party by the Sea Thursday, July 14, 2011. Participants strolled the beautiful grounds of seven gracious Osterville homes, each featuring a unique party setting. Claire Murray's beautiful, historic home was on the tour with a stroll through her famous gardens and a coffee and croissant party.  Ticket sales were a great success with proceeds going to the Osterville Garden Club Charities.

Nantucket Daffodil Festival
The world-famous Daffodil Festival was held in May and excitement filled the streets of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Claire Murray store celebrated the event with goodies, raffles and prizes. The grand prize winner was Jim Riley winner of the Claire Murray Bouquet hand hooked rug. The rug illustrates seasonal flowers found by the sea.
Jim Riley, Winner of the Claire Murray festival giveaway
This dapper couple posed just outside the Claire Murray store during the annual Nantucket Daffodil Festival held in May.
By Meghan McCaffrey yccs@seacoastonline.com December 10, 2009 2:00 AM Mimi Gregoire Carpenter has been enchanted by the sea ever since she was a child. Having grown up in Maine, Carpenter has a fondness for the beauty of local shells and rocks. Carpenter, a local artist for more than 25 years, was recently featured as one of 16 female artists in the book "Women and The Sea" (Hearing the Siren's Song), released this past September by Claire Murray Publications. The book highlights artists from all over the world who have shaped their work around the sea and how in turn their lives have been affected by the lifestyle of living by the water. As a resident of the Goose Rocks Beach neighborhood in Kennebunkport, Carpenter said she walks the beach daily, scouring the beach for "treasures," as she calls them. Carpenter said the sea "recalls the good times when (she) was a child, being by the ocean and discovering things." "Goose Rocks is a great place to find shells because it's shaped like a circle and acts as a little pocket where treasures are collected," Carpenter said. She was featured in the 2009 summer edition of La Vie Claire magazine, as well as Down East Magazine, Harbors Magazine and Accent Magazine. In edition to the magazine articles, Carpenter has been included in Maine Books and in the book "A Passion for Seaglass," and she has written and illustrated six children's books. The first of her books, published in 1981, called "What the Sea Left Behind" was based on Carpenter and her relationship with her daughter, Tessa. The book she is currently working on is a continuation of that theme, as it revolves around Tessa and her son Henry, Carpenter's grandson, who is illustrated as a baby seal. "I am always a painter first, and the writing is a pleasure that comes with it," Carpenter explained. Carpenter also participates in Maine Art Commission's Touring Artist and Artist in Residency Program where she has the opportunity to work with elementary students all across the state of Maine, helping them to write and illustrate their own picture books. Carpenter paints detailed vibrant water color paintings of sealife, seashells, seaglass, seaweed and local pebbles, all things she finds herself. She said she uses watercolor in a way that allows her to paint objects in their most detailed and realistic form using the natural vibrant colors that the sea provides. "I never paint things from away. I only paint things I find here, usually at Goose Rocks Beach," Carpenter said. In the future Carpenter plans to continue to illustrate and write her own books, as well as continue her work with artist in residency programs. "Artists never retire," Carpenter said. "I never lose my fascination for all of these things."

Claire Murray Idea House Waterfront Home Tour- benefits the Red Cross of Delmarva Peninsula
		St. Michael's, Maryland Renowned artist and home furnishings entrepreneur Claire Murray hosted an “Idea House” home tour at three beautiful waterfront homes in St. Michael's. The focus of each house was Claire Murray’s hand-hooked rugs and accessories as well as the inspirations of other local vendors and artists showcasing coastal living and decorating ideas. All the proceeds from ticket sales went directly to the Red Cross of Delmarva, an organization that provides disaster relief and emergency preparedness for many counties on the Delmarva Peninsula. Kick-off Cocktail Reception was held Friday at sunset on the waterfront. Home Tours Were held Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday,  A kick-off sunset gala was held at the waterfront. Ticket holders met Claire Murray. She was on hand to sign her latest book, Women and the Sea and talked about the inspiration for her designs. $25 from the sale of each book was donated to the Red Cross. On Saturday and Sunday, guests toured the three waterfront homes, all with a different theme and flavor. Other vendors participating were Hollyhocks of St. Michael's, The Scented Garden, Salisbury Gift and Garden, and Jayne Bourke Landscaping. In addition, experts were on hand to discuss decorating and home style. A drawing was held for a special raffle including a brand new 5x7 hand hooked rug donated from Claire Murray’s new spring collection.
For Immediate Release
Claire Murray Destination Shopping comes to Naples
		December 8, 2009, Naples, Florida:  Naples’ newest upscale boutique celebrates the colors of the seaside. Claire Murray hand hooked rugs and home accessories are inspired by a lifelong love affair with the sea.   Unique colors and whimsical images paint a tranquil place where time seems to stand still. Overlooking posh Third Avenue, the store is an experience - a destination in its own right. Claire Murray fans are known to travel from all corners of the globe to her flagship Nantucket store.   Shown at left: Claire Murray Original Coral Reef Runner Long
Claire Murray’s Naples store is the 15th named after this prolific artist, known internationally as the woman who revived the art of rug hooking in America. In addition to her stores, 22 licensed boutique partners represent her work in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK. The Naples store showcases hundreds of hand hooked rugs that vary in size from 2x3 up to 9x12. Larger custom sizes have been hooked as large as 18 x 24 ft. Coastal themes dominate the Naples shop yet dozens of floral and wildlife motifs are represented too. Whether your first or second home is on the coast or in the mountains, Claire Murray rugs are right at home. Tableware, cashmere throws, note cards and apparel are woven throughout the magical landscape of the Claire Murray store. The latest addition to Claire’s line is Nantucket Needleworks, a collection of needlepoint kits, counted cross-stitch and rug hooking kits too.  Yarns are the finest 100% wool and craft classes are expected to begin shortly. Visit the newest Claire Murray store in historic Old Naples at 1389 Third Street South www.clairemurray.com For more information, or interviews with Claire Murray: Please contact Adele Lally, Executive Assistant to Claire Murray at 508-385-8800
Hampton Roads Magazine - August 2009
Take two nationally known, talented artists - one a painter, the other a designer/creator of hand hooked rugs and needlepoint- and have them meet in their Yorktown studio/stores. The result: first a mutual admiration society and then striking rugs by Claire Murray that accurately depict the artwork of Yorktown artist Nancy Thomas. Here's how it happened. Murray came to Yorktown last spring for a meet and greet at her shop. Thomas, a longtime fan, went to meet her. "I was so honored," Thomas recalls. "I invited her to my gallery. She loved my artwork and immediately wanted to work together with me on some rugs. She wanted to call the company Kindred Spirits."	Murray picked the artwork she wanted to hook into rugs and began working. The Fat Rabbit was the first rug. It shows a young girl in a garden holding...(you guessed it) a fat rabbit. The first samples were ready last fall and the first rugs of the Kindred Sprits collection were available at the end of 2008. The collection includes 16 rugs depicting Thomas' art. Other top sellers include Bon Appetit, showing a chef with fresh produce; Men of Vision, showing the founding fathers; and Angel on Lamb - self-explanatory. The collection also includes two Santa’s, two with cat themes and one dog. You can also get matching ceramic figures to go with your prints and rugs.	-Karen Haywood Queen Thomas has been impressed with how precisely Murray translates paint colors onto thread. "I mix colors, I blend them,” Thomas says. “Sometimes I go from a dark blue or dark green and grade it to a gray blue or gray green. Claire is very meticulous. She picks her own thread. If she can't find the right color, she'll have it dyed to that color. She captured everything. It was amazing. It shocked me because it was so well done- every little nuance, every little shadow. It's fascinating to me to see my artwork that's flat transformed into all these other mediums such as hooked rugs and ceramics."
Interested? Nancy Thomas Gallery, 145 Ballard St., Yorktown, 757-898-0738, and 407 Duke of Gloucester St., Williamsburg, 757-259-1938. Claire Murray Store, 328 Water St., Yorktown, 757-877-3353 www.clairemurray.com 1-866-868-7001