Artist statement
Morwenna has a degree in Art & Design and graduated with a Masters in Fine Art from Leeds Metropolitan University. Her current practice includes textiles, painting, drawing, light boxes, installation and sculpture. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally; notably at The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, Galerija Skuc in Ljubljana and Jack the Pelican in New York.
She began to work with textiles as a post graduate student and is now best known for her embroidered 2D and sculptural works. For many years she has also designed and created extravagant costumes and public works. Morwenna has worked as a resident artist within museum settings producing new work and larger scale commissions in response to collections at several historical venues including the The Bronte Birthplace in Thornton, Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Preston Park Museum in Stockton and as well as three commissions for English Heritage.
"I’m drawn to projects that allow me to tell stories and create narratives with objects. Not wishing to limit the media I use, I have incorporated photography, projection, x-rays, neon, ironwork, living plants, cutlery and paper sculpture into installations alongside my embroidered textile work. I try to create pieces that have an authenticity which people can relate to and for this reason my work is very often human or animal in nature. My work can have a dark, subversive edge but it can also be playful and humorous. It’s important to me that people are intrigued, engaged and encouraged to tell their own tales. I find that children often have an instinctive understanding of my work because I often refer to the archetypes present in traditional folklore and Fairy Tales. I use snippets of handwritten text, scrawled, typed or embroidered over surfaces, photographs and bits of ephemera, which I print onto fabric, that encourage connections and get peoples imaginations ticking and whirring. I like objects to interact with each other and their environment and although I do exhibit in ‘white cube’ spaces I feel that my work resonates best outside of traditional gallery settings and doesn’t look out of place next to objects of genuine history. I respond to objects and texts and their domestic and historical significance – things which carry their own narrative threads and emotional connections to people. I’m, by nature, a collector, gathering ‘treasure’ like a Magpie; objects, ephemera, rags, clothes, photographs, poems, texts – things used and worn away by human contact. I have a sense that a person retains a spark of life through the collecting and treasuring of things and the stories (real or imagined) that can be told about them." Morwenna Catt
Qualifications and training
- 2000 MA Fine Art, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds
- 1997 BA Art & Design, Bradford College of Art, Design & Textiles, Bradford
Employment
- 2012 Creative Director (2005 - 2012), Lord Mayor's Carnival Parade, Bradford
- 2009 Carnival Artist (2009 - 2012), Stockton Council, Stockton-on-Tees
Solo exhibitions
- 2009 Minor Repairs, Brahm Gallery, Leeds (more info)
- 2009 Poison, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford (more info)
- 2007 Poison, south Square Gallery, Bradford
- 2006 AtoB, Gallerija Celica, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Birds: Elementals, The Linen Rooms, Lisburn, Northern Ireland
- 2011 Birds: Elementals, St Lawrence University Gallery, New York
- 2011 Drawing with Thread, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford
- 2010 Freaks, Shoreditch Town Hall Basement Gallery, Shoreditch, London (more info)
- 2009 Pornograph, Brass Gallery, Leeds
- 2009 Colouring Outside the Lines, Gallery II, University of Bradford, Bradford (more info)
- 2008 Project DoDai, Galerija Škuc, Ljubljana, Ljubljana (more info)
- 2008 Ship of Fools, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- 2008 SCOPE New York Art Fair, with Jack the Pelican Presents Gallery, New York
- 2007 PRICKED: Extreme Embroidery, Museum of Arts & Design, New York (more info)
- 2006 The French Re-Evolution, Bethnal Green Working Mens Club, London (more info)
- 2006 In Two Minds, Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax
- 2006 Au creux du Desir, Hackney Empire Theatre, London (more info)
- 2005 Illuminate Launch Event, Illuminate Festival, Centenary Square, Bradford City Centre (more info)
- 2005 In Two Minds, Yorkshire Craft Centre, Bradford
- 2004 Tongue in Cheek, Northern Quarter Gallery, Manchester
- 2003 Arena Open (Prize winner), Arena Gallery, Liverpool
- 2003 The Tenderness of Pain, Tower Contemporary Arts Centre, York
- 2002 Liverpool Biennial, The Independent (Afoundation), Liverpool
- 2001 Idea, Mongrel Monitor Project, Showrooms, Sheffield
- 2001 Yorkshire Open (Prize winner), Wakefield Arts Mill, Wakefield
Intervention
- 2007 Art for Nothing, Mestna Galerija, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
- 2007 Art for Nothing, Hoxton Square Gallery, London
Workshops
- 2005 Dream Boxes & Light Theatres with Barnardos Young Carers, Dr Barnardos, Bradford
- 2005 Artworks Showcase - Creative Garden - Interactive Installation, Yorkshire Craft Centre, Bradford
- 2004 Viewpoint Fenlands - Art Linked to Poetry, Peckover School, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
Residencies
- 2010 Meanwhile...a Cabinet of Curiosities, Stockton Museum Service, Stockton-on-Tees
- 2006 Moving Stories, Bronte Parsonage Museum / South Square Gallery, Haworth / Thornton (more info)
- 2005 Something of The Night - Education Residency, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Private commissions
- 2006 Large scale interior /exterior mosaic panels, Hansas Restaurant, Leeds City Centre
- 2004 Large Scale Interior Mosaic Scheme Commission, Puccinos Restaurant & Cafe, Morley, Leeds
Public commissions
- 2012 'Up' temporary public art work, They Eat Culture / Preston Vintage Guild 2012, Avenham Park, Preston
- 2012 Sculptural Bird Viewing commission (with Lucas Stephens), East Lindsey Council / Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, Lincolnshire Coastal Grazing Marshes, Anderby Creek
- 2011 Oves Mira Mechanica, Interactive Steampunk Sculpture (with Lucas Stephens), Bradford Industrial Museum, Bradford
- 2008 Shipley Town Centre Stone & Ironwork Sculpture, Shipley Council, Shipley Town Centre
- 2005 With This Pencil I Can . . Outdoor Table Commission, Bradford Museums & Galleries, Brackenhall Countryside Centre, Baildon, Bradford
- 2005 "Home Is ...." Textile Project - Cabinet of Curiosities, English Heritage, Lincoln
- 2003 City Centre Banners, Lincoln City Council, Lincoln
Competitions, prizes and awards
- 2011 Oppenheim John Downs Trust Memorial Award, John Downs Trust, London
- 2008 'Flesh' Exhibition Prizewinner, Yorkshire Craft Centre, Bradford
- 2007 Development Award, Arts Council England, Yorkshire
- 2006 Development Award, Arts Council England, Yorkshire
- 2006 Public's Choice Prizewinner, Yorkshire Open, Wakefield
Educational experience - tertiary
- 1999 Part Time Lecturer Art & Design (1999 - 2010), Bradford College, Bradford
Site specific
- 2006 Radical Brontes Festival: Moving Stories, Bronte Parsonage Museum, South Square Gallery & Bronte Birthplace, Bradford (more info)
Personal website
