Katharine Morling, Ladybug Matchbox, Porcelain, 2024

"Ladybug Matchbox" is a whimsical and surreal porcelain sculpture by award-winning artist Katharine Morling. This piece features intricate, hand-painted drawings of ladybugs and other insects atop an open matchbox, with individual, movable matches, showcasing Morling's distinctive 3-dimensional drawing style. Artist Background: Katharine Morling, a Royal College of Art graduate, has exhibited her ceramic sculptures internationally, including at prestigious venues such as Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Liberty’s in London. Her work has been showcased in countries like the USA, Italy, Kuwait, Algeria, Germany, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, and throughout the UK. In 2019, Morling's piece "Cut," an oversized chainsaw, was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, marking her fifth inclusion in this esteemed event. Notable Achievements: - Awards: First prize at the 2010 World Crafts Council Triennial in Belgium. - Representations: Represented the UK at the 2010 European Ceramic Context in Denmark. - Exhibitions: Solo exhibitions in Sweden, The Netherlands, and across the UK; participation in COLLECT 2011 at the Saatchi Gallery with the installation "Out of the House." - Commissions: Large wall-mounted installation for the new children's ward at the Royal London Hospital through Vital Arts; a contemporary dance piece at the Royal Opera House inspired by her work. - Cultural Projects: As part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Morling created "Morling and the Hoard," ten large ceramic sculptures representing mythological deities, now permanently displayed alongside the Staffordshire Hoard at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent. Artist Statement: "My work can be described as 3-dimensional drawings. Each piece, on the surface an inanimate object, has been given layers of emotion and embedded with stories, which are open for interpretation. The works I create are pieces of narrative in my progressing story, one piece leads to the next, and I work very instinctually. My work represents my inner searching, shown outwardly in domestic and uncanny scenes."