Barbara Pratt

Barbara Pratt's work explores the essence and meaning of beauty through realism. She investigates the natural world, capturing the brilliant, transient beauty of petals and flowers

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1963, and grew up on the Salmonier River in St. Mary's Bay. Barbara is the youngest daughter of artists Christopher and Mary Pratt. Though she grew up in an artistic household, Pratt remembers being neither actively encouraged nor discouraged from choosing art as a career. She received a Bachelor's degree in English from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia during which time she began pursuing her craft by drawing and painting.

Barbara has had a number of solo exhibitions and has also been featured in a number of group exhibtions in public galleries. Her work has generated a great deal of attention and fuelled the interest of the almost cult-like following her work has inspired.

Barbara currently lives in St. Philip's, Conception Bay, not far from St. John's, with her two sons, Philip and Peter.


Artist Statement:
"My influences include not only fashion photography and haute couture as seen in fashion magazines, but also vintage ribbons, bolts of fabric and tiny wooden drawers filled with buttons. Even paint chips at hardware stores and colour-coded files at the doctor’s office inspire me. Good music makes me want to paint. Watching the creativity in others makes me want to paint and, of course, I would be nowhere without my female friends who inspire me daily."