"My work is about aliveness."
 

About Catherine Jo Morgan, M.A.

My work is in private collections across the United States. I've participated in invitational shows, including a show of my iron bowls at Georgia Southern University in 1996. I have also taught blacksmithing and metal sculpture. In 1990 I was a featured demonstrator at the national blacksmithing conference in Alfred, New York. My iron bowls are also featured in Dona Meilach's book, Contemporary Ironwork.

I began learning calligraphy and blacksmithing in 1978. I've been a fulltime studio artist since 1985, working primarily with hand forged iron. I did many commissions for fireplace tools, lighting fixtures, and other interior ironwork. Since 1990, I've specialized in bowls - both openwork iron bowl sculptures, and paper bowls molded from archival papers. My most recent vessel sculptures integrate iron and paper in the same piece. Right now I'm working on wall sculptures that include vessel forms. If you'd like to preview these before the rest of the world, please let me know. I'd love to show them to you as soon as they're ready.

Beginning in 1991, I learned to paint spontaneously, making one of a kind hand painted note cards. This in turn enabled me to make iron bowls in a completely spontaneous process. This spontaneity gives added life and spirit to my work. Now I paint on canvas as well as on paper.

More information:

Artist Information Sheet

Brief resume

Full resume

Chronology, art life

My studio, Ecstasy Forge

Free Collectors Club - previews, discounts

If you'd like to join a special group of interested people who get previews of my new work, along with special discounts and sales, please email me. I'll protect your privacy - will never share your name and email address with anyone else. You'll love the Morgan Collectors Club - no dues, no obligations, just benefits.

My story:

As a child I worked after school with my parents in their sign studio. That was back in the days when most store signs were hand lettered. My parents taught me to draw and letter. I loved being in the studio.

My father was a fun loving free spirit. My mother was a careful perfectionist. This was a perfect marriage for making carefully crafted art and for conflict. These same contradictions run deep in me. It my challenge to use them to make art -and to make a creative life.

In college and graduate school I focused on understanding people and my society. I wanted to help both to change in constructive ways. So my early career was working in a community mental health center in Chicago, followed by a consulting practice in Atlanta, Georgia. There I worked primarily with nonprofit organizations, on conflict resolution, teamwork, and innovation.

As an artist, I draw my inspiration from the woods. I love wild areas. I want to embody the nourishing energies of wild places, into my artwork. This makes these energies available to people in more civilized areas. So I serve a shamanic role, going back and forth between two worlds as a messenger.

So even as an artist, I'm also still a psychologist. I care about the psychological and spiritual impact of my artwork. I'd like my art to be a kind of doorway to a world of freedom, belonging, and creative power. Most of all, I want my art to radiate aliveness.

More information about my work:

Bio

Artist Statement

Early art journal entries

My main website includes more information about my artwork and techniques, as well as helpful articles for other artists. More details are also available about my education, training, and previous exhibits and honors.

You may be interested in my online artist journal, "Hand Forged Vessels."  You can subscribe to this via a handy service called bloglet. This means that whenever I add an entry to the weblog, you'll get it as an email the next day. You can subscribe by looking in the right hand column of my weblog's page. Just enter your email address in the box marked "Subscribe." Of course I will keep your email address absolutely private.

I also post frequently at art and fine craft forums including:

American Craft Forums

The Professional Artists and Craftsmen Association (PACA) Forum

Wet Canvas Forums, where I'm a Guide in the Creativity forum.

Creativity Coaching:

In the past I've done creativity coaching for individuals. I do a bit of this now at the Wet Canvas forums, free of charge. If you're interested in private coaching by phone and email, or in person if you're near my studio in northeast Georgia, please let me know. I charge very moderate rates and like to increase the creative power flowing in the world.

Be sure to browse my eBay store.

Here you can find:

• abstract paintings - original modern expressionist acrylic paintings on canvas
• leaf art - abstract paintings incorporating leaf prints from leaves I gather here in the woods
• heart pictures - abstract paintings incorporating heart imagery - for healing & nourishing the heart
• art prints - archival giclee prints of my original paintings
• pencil drawings - archival giclee prints of my original pencil drawings - abstract spontaneous "automatic drawings" that express feelings and states of being
• creativity coaching - where you can buy personal coaching for your creative work in any medium or creative endeavor - purchasing sessions half an hour at a time

And thanks for your interest. I'm grateful to every collector of my artwork. It's you who give me the opportunity to make art fulltime. I want to enrich your life in return.

By making art fulltime, I'm able to continue to develop my expressiveness and skill at an optimal rate. This helps your investment in my artwork grow in value.

I'm always happy to answer any questions you have. Please feel free to email me at any time at cathy@cjmorgan.com.

Search eBay auctions - CJMorgan

I put "CJMorgan" into all my  auction titles so you can easily search for my work using this phrase.

My eBay ID is morgan*sculpture.

Free Collectors Club - previews, discounts

If you'd like to join a special group of interested people who get previews of my new work, along with special discounts and sales, please email me. I'll protect your privacy - will never share your name and email address with anyone else. You'll love the Morgan Collectors Club - no dues, no obligations, just benefits.

Check out my feedback

In addition to the eBay feedback shown below, I have 100% positive feedback at Amazon.com Marketplace as well.

Thanks for your interest and support.