Sofa Monkey + co in progress

I've been attempting to reupholster my old 1960's sofa - I've had it for years and it cost the grand sum of 20 quid form a second hand shop. I used to keep it in the studio and many artists over the years have taken their rejuvenating afternoon naps on it! Anyway I took it home when I moved house a few years back and finally got fed up of its muddy green velour, black paint and pancake flat cushion. I stripped the arms and base back to bare wood and bought it a new foam cushion.

My upholstery skills leave a lot to be desired so I'm aiming for quirky, psychedelic flower power over beautifully crafted. I've finished hand-sewing the bottom cushion together and put on some newly covered buttons - it's gone slightly baggy already so I can see myself having to redo it. I've used a mix of new and vintage fabrics patch-worked together with vintage edgings and military braid.

For the back rest I've decided to make a series of faces that will be patched together, again with braid and vintage edging - I've completed a monkey and a bird - I guess I need another 2 or 3 to finish it.

a weekend at home with a Folk Art cupboard + Madame La Snake

I spent the weekend daubing a knackered old cupboard in my house with my interpretation of 'Folk Art'...It was surprisingly time consuming, I think I stooped over this for 24 hrs and didn't even paint any motifs to the sides yet. Not to mention the 15 minutes I spent wedged on the staircase by the cupboard while I tried to move its fat carcass downstairs.

A pair of silly looking 'love birds' adapted from a fabric design...
A magpie lurking in a Norwegian tree and my XL sized ginger cat Alex
This door has a cartoon of my , long dead, dog Frodo...and a squirrel that was supposed to be holding an acorn but looks like its doing something else.
I also finished the over embellishment of 'Madame la Snake', my ridiculous bejewelled draft excluder....loosely based on my Great Grandma's, which was even more bejewelled and sequined, pretty much the Mme de Pompadour of draft excluders.

Story Chair. Bradford Library. Morwenna Catt + Lucas Richard Stephens

Drawing with Thread Exhibition, Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford

I forgot to plug this exhibition! I'm in it, its on at the Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford until May 1st if anyones passing through.

Drawing with Thread

Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford

Start date: 05-Mar-2011
End date: 01-May-2011

A new exhibition featuring work by ten contemporary textile artists will be on show at the Shire Hall Gallery from Saturday March 5 to Sunday May 1.

Drawing with Thread will feature artists who all use thread as a drawing tool in their work. The exhibition will feature a mixture of hand embroidered and machine stitched pieces, collage, 3D work and sculptural pieces - as well as an innovative new installation by award winning artist Debbie Smyth.

Other artists include Caroline Kirton, who produces large scale stitched drawings which chart the ups and down of adolescent life which were recently featured in Embroidery magazine, Morwenna Catt who subverts traditional imagery to create tragic toys and dark fairytales and Trevor Smith, a recent graduate of Birmingham City University whose hand stitched embroideries are hotly tipped to make him a future star of Britain's design industry.

For more information people should contact the Shire Hall Gallery on 01785 278345

Market Square • Stafford • ST16 2LD
Telephone: 01785 278345
Fax: 01785 278327
Minicom: 01785 278345
shirehallgallery@staffordshire.gov.uk

Web site: http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/sams

Opening Times: Mon - Sat: 9.30am - 5.00pm Tue: 10.00am - 5.00pm, Sun: 1.00pm - 4.00pm

The Shire Hall Gallery is located in the Market Square in the centre of Stafford. Car parks, bus stops and railway station are within 5 minutes walk. Stafford is only 3 miles from the M6 (junction 13 or 14).

Animal Benches, Pupil Referral Unit, Bradford. Morwenna Catt and Lucas Stephens.

My first rough sketch for the benches

We worked at the Pupil Referral Unit to produce some benches for their garden. The young people took part in workshops, created their own mosaics and learnt all about the materials and techniques we'd be using on the furniture.

The main structure of the benches was carved with a chainsaw and finished with chisels.

This one is an Owl

A frog...

This started as a floppy eared rabbit....

We decided to use reflectors as eyes so they 'glow' in the dark

A cat..

A bear....each animal has a section of mosaic on its head.

A dog

The animals bite onto the benches to keep them solid.

Race Matters, Youth Group banner workshop, Keighley

Vote for me!?

I've entered my peacock into the Saatchi showdown. You can vote for me (or against me) here:

http://www.saatchionline.com/showdown/match/showdown/4/artist/533/art/1211015

Echostains blog

Some nice words on a good blog

http://echostains.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/art-discovered-and-recovered-morwenna-catt/

Freaks Exhibition

Freak Exhibition, Shoreditch opens 9th December

I'm making multiples to be sold in the 'Freak' Show shop that accompanies the new Exhibition ( The show opens this Thursday evening: 5pm - 10pm at Shoreditch Town Hall - all welcome.

About the Show:
Freaks and misfits hold a vague and mysterious place inside human consciousness and outside of human comprehension. They can take many forms; a freak of nature, a freak accident or a freak appearance. For centuries freak shows and circuses have fascinated and perplexed the imagination of countless audiences. They show us something which is so close to home but living in a reality so far from what we call normality. These misfits serve as a reminder that our reality is only as concrete as we decide to make it. This exhibition serves to explore the notion of the Freaks and to wholeheartedly engulf its self and viewer into the mysteries of things not quite of this world.
This exhibition displays 35 artist's from around Europe and their visions of what happens when we peer behind the curtain and see the glitches in the makeup of our reality.

Opening Night: Thursday 9th December 5pm - 10pm. All welcome.

Exhibition: 9th - 16th December
open from 10am - 7pm on weekdays and from 10am till 6pm on Saturday and Sunday.