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1935
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Born:
December 9 to John Kerr and Emily Christina (Dawe) Pratt
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1940-50
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1940 - Kindergarten at Prince of Wales College; 1942 - Grade School: Holloway; 1943 (Fall) - Topsail and Bay Roberts; 1944/45 - Returned to Holloway School and moved from LeMarchant Road to Waterford Bridge Road, St. John's. 1947 (Fall) - Started junior high school Prince of Wales College. Spent summers in Topsail, Bay Roberts, Ocean Pond and Placentia
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| Started painting watercolours. | 1952 | Graduated from high school. Fall - pre-engineering at Memorial University. |
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Won Nfld. & Lab. Arts and Letters Competition for Shed in a Storm (1953). Won Nfld. & Lab. Arts and Letters Competition for The Bait Rocks and for poetry (1954). Won Mt. Allison Literary Competition for poetry and short prose (1954). Traveled to New York and Toronto visiting major galleries and art schools |
1953-55
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Summer of 1953: worked with Provincial Dept. of Forestry; Summer of 1954: River Guardian at Piper's Hole River in Swift Current and Beaver Falls, Placentia. Pre-med Mt. Allison University (Sackville, NB) (1953) Showed watercolors to Lawren P. Harris (Director of School of Fine Arts), Mt. Allison, who wrote Christopher's father about his son's talent as a painter, recommending that Christopher transfer to Fine Arts Faculty. His father did not reply to letter. Met Mary West. Changed to Faculty of Arts in 1954. |
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Influence of Drawing Instructor, Jessie Alix Dick, at Glasgow School of Art. Watercolour: Grosvenor Crescent (1957). First silkscreen print: Haystacks in December (1960) |
1956-60
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Christmas 1955: Left Mt. Allison and returned to St. John's to paint full-time. Built cabin on Southeast River, Placentia (1956). Worked as construction surveyor at Argentia Naval Base summers (1957-59). Married Mary West (September 1957) and moved to Glasgow, Scotland to attend Glasgow School of Art. John Pratt born 1958. Enrolled in third year of Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Mt. Allison University (Fall) 1959. Anne Pratt born 1960. |
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Silkscreen Boat in Sand (1961) included in 4th Biennial Exh., National Gallery of Canada. Haystacks in December included in Young Contemporaries Show in London, Ontario. Demolitions on the South Side (1961) given Purchase Prize at Atlantic Awards Exh., Dalhousie Univ. Painting: House and Barn (1962) accepted for 5th Biennial Exh., National Gallery of Canada. |
1961-62
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BFA, Mt. Allison. Returned to St. John's, NL. Appointed Specialist in Art at MUN and Curator of Memorial University Art Gallery. Taught extension classes and arranged exhibitions at Carbonear, Placentia, Grand Falls, Corner Brook and elsewhere. Bought a 34' trap skiff at Bay Bulls; took it to St. Mary's Bay; named it WALRUS. Fire destroyed cabin on Southeast River in Placentia. |
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Began painting, print-making (silkscreens) and drawing from life. One-man exhibition at Memorial University Art Gallery (1965), curated by Peter Bell. Show toured Atlantic Art Circuit. Painting: Woman at a Dresser (1964) accepted for 6th Biennial, National Gallery of Canada. Painting: Young Girl With Sea Shells (1965). Began a series of paintings and drawings of local models. |
1963-65
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Resigned position at Memorial University and moved to St. Mary's Bay to resume painting full-time. Barbara Pratt born in 1963. Edwyn Pratt born in 1964. |
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(1969) Traveled across Canada with Canada Council Visual Arts Jury. Met Dorothy Cameron, David Silcox, artists Iain Baxter, Greg Curnoe, Claude Breeze, Charles Gagnon, Yves Gauthier, Ulysse Comtois and others. Met Mira Godard. Paintings: Young Woman Dressing (1966). Shop on Sunday (1968) included in 7th Biennial Exh., National Gallery of Canada. |
1966-70
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1965 to 1972 - took annual trips to Labrador aboard his Uncle Chester's yacht, HEMMER JANE, with his father, brother Philip, Fred Clark, Bob Chancey, David Silcox and others. |
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(1971) Taught summer school art classes at Mt. Allison University. (1971) Spent three weeks touring Newfoundland - living in Volkswagon bus. Touring exhibition - Yves Gauthier and Christopher Pratt organized by Vancouver Art Gallery. Paintings: Cottage (1973); Institution (1973). 'Strait of Belle Isle' prints. |
1971-75
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1972 -Hon. D.Litt. Mt. Allison Univ. and Hon. D. Laws, Memorial University of Nfld. 1973 - Cruised the east coast of NL north to Canada Bay aboard 35' C&C sloop LYNX. Appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. 1974 - Sailed from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Holyrood, Conception Bay, NL aboard 39' C&C sloop PROUD MARY. |
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Solo exh. at Marlborough Godard Gallery in New York (1976) Solo shows at Mira Godard Gallery in Toronto in 1976 and 1978. Lithograph: Nude by Night Window (1978). Paintings: March Night (1976), Summer Place (1978), Trunk (1979), Me and Bride (1980). Prints: Above Montreal (1979), Gaspé Passage (1980). Christopher Pratt: Prints, Related Studies, Collages Stencil Proofs 1975-1980, Memorial University (1980) |
1976-80 |
Sailed 43' C&C sloop DRY FLY from Lake Ontario to Long Pond, NL. Sailed DRY FLY to Halifax. Raced there and in Chester Race Week (1976). Member, Board of Canada Council 1975-81. Sailed southwest and northeast coasts of NL in DRY FLY from 1976-1981. At the request of an all-party committee of Legislature, designed provincial flag for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1980. John Kerr Pratt died November 10, 1980. |
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Christopher Pratt Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Canada House Cultural Centre Gallery, London, England (show traveled to Brussels, Paris and Dublin 1982-83). Twenty-one Drawings (new figure work) show at Mira Godard Gallery (1982). Christopher Pratt: Silkscreen Prints 1960-1982, Canadian Cultural Centre Gallery, London, England (show traveled to Rome, Glasgow, Billingham, Berkshire, Dublin and Vienna) (1983-85). Paintings: Whaling Station (1983); Pink Sink (1984). Print: Yacht Wintering(1984) |
1981-84
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Built alternate studio/residence in St. John's. Publication of book: Christopher Pratt, Key Porter Books/Prentice Hall Canada (David Silcox/Meriké Weiler, 1982). Appointed Companion of the Order of Canada (1983). |
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Christopher Pratt: A Retrospective, Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Memorial University Art Gallery, Dalhousie Art Gallery. Jeanette Meehan started work as studio assistant. Paintings: August 1939 (1985), Big Boat (1987), Tower, Light and Tanker (1988), Black Pickup (1990). Christopher Pratt Prints, American Associated Artists Gallery, NY (1986). |
1985-90 |
Poetry readings, including London Regional Art Gallery, London, ON (1986). Hon. D. Laws, Dalhousie University. Sailing activities focused on racing C&C 41' sloop GREYLING in Conception Bay. Started construction of a new studio at Salmonier. Moved in in September 1990 |
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Paintings: Pedestrian Tunnel (1991) completed in new studio, Moose and Transports (1993), Big Cigarette (1993), Basement with Two Beds (1995). Print: Launching Greyling (1992). Regrouping after studio fire - produced many mixed media works in 1992-1993. Mira Godard Gallery 30th Anniversary Exhibition (1992). Christopher Pratt Prints 1958-1991, Toronto, St. John's and Washington, DC |
1991-95
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Publication of book: The Prints of Christopher Pratt 1958-1991, Breakwater Books/Mira Godard Gallery (1991). Studio burns in January 1992, after only 16 months in use. Returned to original studio adjoined to house. Spent many weekends driving and hiking on Burin Peninsula, Bonavista Peninsula and Straight Shore. Mary Pratt moved from Salmonier to the studio/residence in St. John's. Publication of book: Personal Reflections on a Life in Art, Key Porter Books, Toronto (1995). |
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Christopher Pratt - The Boat; Selected Images, Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador (1996). Began making lithographs at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook. Paintings: Whiteout at Witless Bay Overpass (1996), Blue Dianne (1996), Deer Lake: Junction Brook Memorial (1999), Military Presence (1999), Driving to Venus paintings in 2000. Print: The Raven (1997). Collage Self-Portrait: Who is This Sir Munnings? Several narrative collages in 1998 with a "Residue of Fire" theme. Bay Roberts Heritage Society's "Christopher Pratt Art Gallery" opens at Cable Building, Bay Roberts, NL Sept 1999 Christopher Pratt at the Mira Godard Gallery, 30th Anniversary, Toronto, ON (1999). Landscape and Memory - Twelve Painters, Mira Godard Gallery (2000). Toronto International Art Fair (2000). |
1996-2000
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Spent increasing amount of time traveling and hiking on west coast of NL, Great Northern Peninsula, Bonavista Peninsula, Straight Shore and Avalon Peninsula. Sailed on Conception Bay aboard 37' C&C sloop DORA MAAR. Built studio/cabin on the Mad Rocks Road in Bay Roberts (1997). Stopped making silkscreen prints after completing The Raven, for environmental reasons (1997). Gave Pratt Lecture, Memorial University of Newfoundland (1998). Summer of 2000 - tore down the original studio; built a new studio on same site. |
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Toronto International Art Fair (2001 and 2002) Paintings: Half-Moon and Bright Stars… (2001), Snow Fence and Mars (2002), Love in Late Summer (2002), Crab Plant with Cat Tracks (2002). Exhibition at Rideau Hall of prints donated to Canadiana Fund. New York International Art Fair (2002) New Paintings, Mira Godard Gallery, 2002. Certain Realities, Group show at Mira Godard Gallery (January 2003). Exhibition of Rideau Hall prints at the National Gallery of Canada. |
2001-present |
Started working in newly reconstructed studio space. Emily Christina (Dawe) Pratt died September 16, 2001. Class of '57 Reunion: Mt. Allison (2002) Class of '52 Reunion: Prince of Wales College (2002). Landscapes of Memory, the artist's poetry read in conjunction with Memorial University School of Music soprano Jane Leibel, flutist Michelle Cheramy and composer Jack Behrens (January 2003) |
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