Art Space Talk: Thea Pratt (Part 3)

Window 4 by Thea Pratt

This is Part 3 of my interview with Thea Pratt. To return to Part 2 click, HERE

Brian Sherwin: Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

Thea Pratt: No. When I left school I took slides around to galleries and no one was interested. Actually, there were 2 galleries that were interested but I went back and they had closed! I always laugh about that. Then life got weird and I only have time to make the work and survive. However, if shows like the NYAXE show come along, I'll try to take advantage of them now that I've seen how easy it is to apply.

BS: Do you have any concerns about the art world at this time?

TP: I'm sad about it. I think that people (both viewers and artists) are closing themselves off and seem unable to feel or think or care for themselves. Most people focus on the external (just ride the NY subway or walk the streets some time). To be a viewer or artist I think that you have to be coming from someplace central because the external is always changing and moving away and falling apart and it divides us.

But then, I'm naive when it comes to the art world since I've always been on the outside of it.

BS: There has been several stories involving copyright infringement in the mainstream press as of late. What is your stance on copyright? Do you see strong copyright as a reflection of artist rights in general? Or do you feel that copyright restricts creativity? Do you have a stance on this issue?

TP: I think that we have to have a balance here. As artists we can box ourselves in saying "this is mine, this is mine". I think that it's most important to find out what we are and then, coming from there, open ourselves to everything. And this means letting things go as well.

I think that it's a question of respect. Asian artists in the past would use an ancestor's poetry in their piece and it was recognized that this was done in homage to the ancestor. At the moment, that's not the modern Western way but it is something to keep at the back of our collective mind.

Alien 1 by Thea Pratt

BS: As you know, the economy has been hard. Have you had to change-- or should I say adapt-- your practice due to the economy?

TP: I was laid off from my 9 to 5 library job in 2006 and was thrown back on teaching yoga. I've started a small business which is growing slowly. This actually has helped my art. My present inconsistent schedule is great for making art. I carry my drawing materials with me and use Starbucks as my studio to do my "Swarm" drawings. And this has its own juice. You wouldn't believe how many job interviews, staff reviews and meetings, illicit affairs, divorces, etc., etc. are held in Starbucks!

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

TP: No. But thanks for the questions and your interest in my work. You've made me think a lot. And your interest has helped me to look at my work and put it out on the web. Thanks.



This is the conclusion of my interview with Thea Pratt. To return to Part 1 of the interview click, HERE

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
www.myartspace.com
Myartspace Blog on Twitter
www.twitter.com/myartspace_blog

Art Space Talk: Thea Pratt (Part 2)

On Fire by Thea Pratt

This is Part 2 of my interview with Thea Pratt. To return to Part 1 click, HERE

Brian Sherwin: Thea, what about other influences? For example, are you influenced by any specific artists?

Thea Pratt: A lot of the artists who influence me are anonymous. The New Guinea carvers who made the "hooks" that can be seen at the Met, the artists who illustrated the Utrecht Psalter, a painting of a Buddha that glows on the walls of the Rubin Museum, a piece of Inuit sculpture of the seal goddess made of green soapstone.

Of known artists, I'm interested in the automatic drawing of the Surrealists and I love the attitude of the 1920's, the humor and biting commentary. I practice Asian brush calligraphy and love the ancient calligraphers. And the Goya show a while back at the Met literally left me speechless, particularly the Saturn pieces. So much agony.

BS: So what is the specific message you strive to convey to viewers? Do you adhere to a specific philosophy as far as your work is concerned?

TP: Ah, yes. At this point I become wordless again. Perhaps a word I can throw out is "honesty". I'm a yoga teacher and coming from the core is so important there. I think I learned a lot about that from making art.
I think that that's why I find words to be such a problem. People just throw them around.

In yoga I can't describe what happens in meditation. It's the same In art. I have more of a philosophy about words than about my art. Words can narrow and categorize, can change the piece entirely. I think that its important to allow art to be ambiguous, to always have that part that you don't "understand". On the other hand, if words are a carefully considered, integral part of the piece, they can open and add to it.

On Fire by Thea Pratt

BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your current work?

TP: Right now I'm working on several pieces. That's another thing I do. I find that if I focus on anything too much it doesn't work for me. If I were teaching a yoga class I'd describe it as keeping my eyes soft, allowing for the peripheral vision of my mind.

Anyway, I keep doing the drawings for "Swarm". This began as a children's story around 2005 and then grew too dark so I just call it a "story" Right now I'm working on part 3: "exploding houses". This is a wall piece made up of drawings of city buildings. The streets on the periphery of the city are detaching and these houses are exploding. The drawings together form the shape of a spiral galaxy that covers the wall.

I also keep working on the "icons". Each one of these has taken years. They stop and start, the materials keep being recycled and getting more of a "natural" feel and, finally, everything pulls together and they're finished.

And I recently uploaded a lot of photographs and, for the first time, have had a chance to really look at them. So I have my camera out again.

On Fire by Thea Pratt

BS: What are your thoughts concerning the internet and utilizing the World Wide Web in order to gain exposure for your art? In your opinion, why is it important for artists to embrace the internet?

TP: I think that the internet is both good and bad. It's good because the people who are making art that isn't part of the main stream (I know a lot of really good artists who aren't showing in galleries) can be seen and can connect with people who relate to them. It's downside is that the work is never as it appears on the web.

Getting back to Winnipeg, the only work other than local art we saw was in reproductions. It was a shock when I came to NY and saw the real thing. Goya's Saturns are interesting in a book but they bowled me over in real life. However, the internet is good at introducing the viewer and the artist so I think it's important that we use it.



To read Part 3 of my interview with Thea Pratt click, HERE

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
www.myartspace.com
Myartspace Blog on Twitter
www.twitter.com/myartspace_blog

Art Space Talk: Thea Pratt (Part 1)

Thea Pratt is an artist who works in a variety of mediums. She studied art at the University of Manitoba and Hunter College. Pratt was recently selected for representation at the NYAXE Gallery in Palo Alto, CA.

Woods by Thea Pratt

Brian Sherwin: Thea, you were selected for representation at the NYAXE Gallery in Palo Alto, CA. As you know, NYAXE Gallery is operated by the founders of www.myartspace.com and www.nyaxe.com and serves as a way to bridge the online and physical art world. Why did you decide to submit your work for consideration?

Thea Pratt: It was so easy. My life is hectic just surviving and making art. Trying to get it out there is just one more hassle and I'm not good at it. So when all I had to do was press a computer key, it was a no-brainer.

BS: What can you tell us about your academic background concerning art? Did you study art formally? Tell us about your art studies in general-- any influential instructors?

TP: I did my BFA in Winnipeg, Canada at the University of Manitoba. The best thing about those years was the rivalry between the Manitoba born and bred faculty and those who had come in from the U.S. This produced a really good energy, allowed for experimentation and new ideas. There was also a good Visiting artists program that brought in people like Lynda Benglis, Dennis Oppenheim, Richard Serra, Robert Irwin and so on.

Then I came to New York and went to Hunter College for my MA in studio art. Interestingly I found very little energy and a parochial attitude. The best part of these years was the students I met. We visited each other's studios which were all over NY so I got to see parts of the city I would otherwise have missed.

I left Hunter having completed all my requirements except for my thesis. (call it frustration) I guess the one instructor who I remember from Hunter is Rosalind Kraus. She helped me to "see" photography.

Woods by Thea Pratt

BS: Tell us about yourself. At what point did you gain an interest in creating visual art?

TP: I guess that the consistent thing about my life has been moving. I've done this since I was about 8 and my latest move was in Feb of this year. This means that my life is always "new"I really became hooked on art when I moved to a small town in Manitoba, Canada.

I had been married for about a year and had only lived in cities. I had a lot of time on my hands and our living-room window looked out on a tiny house with a huge vegetable garden owned by a tiny, bowlegged, elderly Ukrainian lady. I saw her planting and weeding during the summer. Then in the fall, she came around the corner of her house, wearing a straw hat and carrying an armload of dried cornstalks and a bucket of straw. The sun hit her and, to me, she glowed. It was a split second but I felt that I had to put this down in some way - it was just too beautiful. I didn't have a camera but I did have some paint-by-number paints and canvas board.

So I started painting. I came across other scenes that hit me the same way and this just continued. (except that I got better paint!) Then I moved back to the city, went to art school and found that I could find that excitement from a blank sheet of paper and lines and forms and colour.

You Are Not Ready by Thea Pratt

BS: Can you tell us about your art? Give us some insight into the thoughts behind your art.

TP: At art school I had a terrible time talking about my art. This hasn't changed. Part of this is because it's spontaneous and intuitive. One of my profs said that the reptile part of my brain is very active. A fellow student said I take things in, digest them and they come out my own.

BS: Can you discuss your process in general? Are there any specific techniques that you utilize?

TP: As I said, the process is spontaneous and intuitive. Some pieces start with a few lines on a page. I keep building until something comes out of it. Some pieces take years to complete. I think that they're done and then have to go back to them again and again. The materials (I include my drawings/paintings/images in this) keep recycling and then become something.

Very few pieces "emerge fully formed" and take a very short time to do. These are usually my favorite pieces. Art is intertwined with my life so I just keep making things and they keep growing.



To read Part 2 of my interview with Thea Pratt click, HERE

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
www.myartspace.com
Myartspace Blog on Twitter
www.twitter.com/myartspace_blog