Sonia Pratt, born and raised in North Central WV is a descendant of early European settlers to the region. Her father was a coal miner, as were many of her relatives, and her mother worked as a store clerk. She studied Art and English at Fairmont State University and graduated with a BA in Education. She has traveled extensively through the US, Mexico, Europe and parts of Asia.

 Her first job was as a traveling art teacher in a remote area of West Virginia. Her experience was ultimately included in the book Flower Teachers: stories for a New Generation by Candice Jesse Stout. She later spent thirty-three years as an award winning High School art teacher in Western Maryland.

 As a life long learner she has traveled and studied many forms of art throughout the US.  Her main emphasis has been learning more about encaustic and cold wax. As a multimedia artist they are her preferred mediums. However, she has studied several mediums such as clay and printmaking to broaden her scope of expression.

 She currently lives and maintains a studio in Western MD and exhibits her work   throughout much of the US in national and international shows as well as several one person shows. Her work is in several private collections.  She is an active member in the Garrett County Arts Council, Woman Made Gallery, Encaustic Art Institute and several online arts groups.

Education

BA Art Education/English, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV.

Additional educational experiences include:
Painting With Fire: Essence of Mulranny
Clay: Debra Fritts. Abique, NM
R&F Encaustic/Kingston, NY
Cullowhee Mountain Arts: Encaustic. Cold Wax, Printmaking, mixed media
Arrowmont School of Arts And Crafts/Gatlinburg, TN. (Narrative Art. Encaustic.
TICA. (Teacher’s Institute in Contemporary Art) Art Institute of Chicago
Cullowhee Mountain Arts, Cullowhee, NC (cold wax painting)
Women’s Art Institute. Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Teacher Institute for the Study of Southern Culture. University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi.
Navajo Culture. Navajo Community College, Tsaile, Arizona. Sponsored by Goddard College, Burlington, VT
Graduate studies at West Virginia University, Frostburg State University and the University of Arizona, Extension Guadalajara, Mexico.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014 The Land Remembers. Encaustic/mixed media. Frostburg Museum. Frostburg Museum. Frostburg, MD
2013 The Land Remembers. Encaustic/mixed media. Garrett County Arts Council Gallery. Oakland, MD.
2011 The Land Remembers. Encaustic/mixed media. Wheeling Artisan Center. Wheeling, WV.
2010 The Land Remembers. Garrett College. McHenry, MD.
2000 Cultural Narratives. Tombstone Café. Frostburg, MD.
1999 Cultural Narratives. Windrush Gallery. Friendsville, MD.
1997 Story Cloths. Invitational. Frostburg State University. In recognition of Women’s History Month.
1990 Images of Appalachia. The Art Company of Davis. Davis, WV.

Selected Group Shows

2021 Viral Collaboration. Bridgeport Art Center. Chicago, Ill. Juror: Helen Dannelly, Jeff Hirst. International.
2019 Small Works Members Show. Woman Made Gallery. Chicago, Ill. Juried:
2019 Abstractly Speaking. Woman Made Gallery. Chicago, Ill. Jurer: Melanee Cooper.
2017 12th Annual Encaustic Invitational. Tucson, AZ. Jurer: Conrad Wilde. Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, Arizona.
2017 Reunion I. Woman Made Gallery. Chicago. Ill. Jurer: Beate Minkovski
2016 The Empowerment Project. Sponsored by AAUW in conjunction with the Empowerment Project Video project. Garrett College, McHenry, MD.
2015 Artists Explore Environments-Evergreen Heritage Center Foundation. Mount Savage, MD. Juried. 1st Place.
2015 Touch Of Red. Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts. Fredericksburg, VA. National/Juried. Reni Gower-juror. 2nd place.
2015 Artists Explore Environments- Evergreen Heritage Center Foundation. Mount Savage, MD. Juried. 2nd place.
2009 Cross Pollination. Woman Made Gallery. Chicago, IL. International. Juried by Laurel Delaney.
2005 The Vernacular Landscape. Garrett College, McHenry, MD. Sonia Pratt and Paige Taylor.
2004 GEMS. Art reflecting the intensity, intimacy and concentrated essence of Women. College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota. National/Juried.
2001 International Symposium of Art/Culture/Nature. Cococino Center for the Arts. Flagstaff, Arizona. International/Juried.
2000 Making Marks. Fine Arts Gallery. West Liberty University. West Liberty, WV. Sonia Pratt and Mark Tobin Moore.
1998 Power Objects in the Here and Now. Government House. Annapolis, MD.

Collections
Garrett College
Works held in private collections throughout the US,

Teaching
Certified art teacher with thirty-four years of teaching experience in grades nine through twelve. I taught art history, general through advanced placement classes and served as department chair.

Curatorial Projects

1995 Immigrant Brides. Artist/originator/ coordinator. Community project. Collecting stories from immigrant women in a mining community. Weaving the stories together in a public presentation. Kitzmiller, MD.

1994 Community Weavings. Ladies of the Elks, Elks Lodge, Oakland, MD. Public Presentation.

1993 Community Weavings. Oakland Community, Herrington Manor State Park, MD.

1993 Community Weaving, Friendsville, MD. Community of Friends. Public presentation.

Awards and Grants

1993 Grant from the Garrett County Arts Council and the MD State Arts Council.

1994 Regional Artist Grant. Granted through the New Forms Regional Grant Program. Administered by the Painted Bride, Funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts/Interdisciplinary Arts Program, the National Endowment for the Arts/Inter-Arts Program, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc.