M.C. Pratt

About the Artist

M.C. Pratt is a native of Baltimore who works in oils, watercolor, mixed media and occasionally installations and stone. She lives and works in Allegany County, MD with her husband and 2 dogs. With a dual BS in Art and Philosophy, and an MEd in art education, she teaches in a variety of public and private venues while pursuing a life robust with painting, exhibiting and writing. As Director for Art Education for the Evergreen Heritage Center, Mt. Savage MD., she develops and implements programs for Arts in the Schools for grades 3, 4 and 5 in conjunction with the Allegany County Public School System and the Maryland State Arts Council. A few of her published works, including paintings, poetry and historical essays can be found in the Still Point Arts Quarterly, The Avocet, The Backbone Mountain Review, Journal of the Alleghenies, the Ginseng Literary Magazine and others. In 2013 she was selected as Artist in Residence at the Catoctin Mountain Park (U.S. Nat’l. Park Service), Thurmont, MD. She was also juried into a residency at The Wildacres Retreat and Conference Center in Little Switzerland, NC, working alone for several weeks on painting and writing in a remote cabin in the Great Smokey Mountains. Her work is found in corporate and private collections in MD, NC, NY, CO, VA, NM, PA, WV, DE, and CA currently. Other information can be found at M.C. Pratt on FB and at http://triskelestudios.blogspot.com/ Instagram: MCPRATT13 Personal passions include, in addition to painting and writing - teaching, research and extensive reading across many genre, cooking in Mediterranean, Israeli and Indian traditions, fermenting, completing challenging mural commissions, kayaking, hanging with the dogs, philosophy/theosophy, book collecting, studying Kabbalah/Zohar, deep study of Celtic literature and history, varied music/flutist activities, and family time and travel. And sleep. And coffee. 

Artist's Statement

Words and pictures have informed my mind since being read to as a young child. Detailed games of pretend and storytelling came naturally early in childhood, outside gathering feasts for my characters from whatever inspiration from books or the season provided, directing them through woods and battles and making up elaborate narratives, assisted by a box of dress-ups shared with the neighborhood kids as we made stories come alive. Access to unlimited art materials and processes from a mother who attended MICA and a father who sat me on his woodworking bench, learning all the tools and their uses… It’s no big step that today in my adult art-making, words and images are mutually dependent as I write, paint and draw with an almost inseparable fluidity. Those writings and drawings then come into their own as oil paintings, poems, mixed media pieces, water media pieces and occasionally the deeply personal stone carving as well as some installations happily realized. Cultural, spiritual, personal mythocentric and historical references also inform. Art making is wide open, and ever-changing for me. Sometimes I write extensively before I paint, other times there is a great and intuitive flow. I also thrive on experimentation as a personal process of creating, even as I employ my own repertoire of stylistic discoveries. Every day of art making is a new day. As an independant teaching artist, I learn as much from working with audiences as I hope I am able to impart. Sharing the experience of creating with children and adults is a joy, as I continue to develop integrated arts programs in diverse educational settings. To encourage and witness the sense of discovery and personal empowerment that comes with making art is indeed a privilege. For the boring stuff, I have a dual BS in Art(clay and illustration) and Philosophy and a MEd in Art from Frostburg State University, and am a grad of St. John's College Santa Fe (also Annapolis MD) in classic literaturre. There is more... a few apprenticeships, lots of shows, a few artist-in-residence experiences; feel free to ask andsee resume. Mantra: Make art daily. It might be in a garden, in the kitchen, behind a keyboard, an easel or at a nursing station. It might be in a notebook or on a tablet. It might be in your head. On a playing field. In a pulpit. Or a taxi. Create. Make the world a better place through art.