Catherine Morland uses her work to explore feminist themes, domesticity, the reclamation of materials, and processes of making and remaking. Commenting on her series of interventions she writes:

‘I have used basketry and cordage, weaving and knots, some of the earliest domestic collaborative activities, to make my installations. I see basketwork as a form of commons. Most materials used for basketry originate from plants. There is a relationship between the maker and materials (especially if you grow your own materials), an interaction between different species. I learnt that there are advantages to knowing about the lifecycle and habitat of the plants that I use and their potential to be transformed, plaited, or twisted into shape’.

The work in the Making Rural England gallery comprises three basketwork vessels— coiled or plaited—and ball of cordage made from plastic bags. Catherine’s pieces also incorporate collected dried garden flowers. Her basketry materials include rush, cotton twine, raffia, crocosmia, and daffodil leaves.

As well as the smaller objects like these, Catherine Morland also created larger sculptural Gatherings. 

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‘There is care embedded in this kind of making, ecological and dextrous. Much of the plant material I have used for this work has been collected by me in my immediate environment, local parks and my own garden. In planning for this project before lockdown I foraged for the plants at the end of the summer and left the stems and flowers to dry in my studio over the winter until ready for use. But with Covid I had a whole growing season of extra time ahead of me. I was able to collect the seeds from the harvest, plant them, look after them and watch them grow in the garden outside my studio before using them in the work. I became completely immersed in the lifecycle of my plant companions.’