Christopher Pratt, RCA

Christopher Pratt's striking, frequently unsettling images-starkly or softly lit buildings or boats, landscapes, figures-have a psychological depth firmly linked to a precisely rendered mood of isolation that is leavened with expectation. In both his paintings and his serigraph prints he portrays light that resonates with both presence and absence.

Born in St. John's in 1935, Pratt studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1957 to 1959 and earned a B.F.A from Mount Allison University in 1961. Following a brief tenure as an Art Specialist at Memorial University, he moved to Salmonier, St. Mary's Bay, and began working as a full-time artist. In a long and celebrated career his serigraph prints and paintings have been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibitions, capped by a major retrospective organized by the National Gallery of Canada in 2005, which travelled across the country. His work forms part of public and private collections nationwide.

Christopher Pratt was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1983. He has received honorary doctorates from several Canadian universities, and his work has been the subject of several books. He has also written one book of poetry and one of memoir. He continues to live and work in his studio on the Salmonier River.