  john christopher pratt cc (born 9 december 1935) is a canadian painter and printmaker. christopher pratt first started painting watercolours in 1952. in 1953 he attended mount allison university in sackville, new brunswick as a student in pre-medicine. at mount allison he quickly became interested in fine arts, especially painting. he was encouraged to paint by lawren p. harris and alex colville. pratt met his future wife at mount allison, artist mary west. they married in 1957, and have 4 children: john, barbara, anne and edwin. he and mary separated in 1990. from 1957-1959 pratt studied at the glasgow school of art in scotland. during the summers, he returned to newfoundland to work as a construction surveyor at the american naval base at argentia. the training he received in precise measuring was applied to his paintings. in 1959 pratt returned to mount allison university to complete in 1961 a bachelor of fine arts degree. during this period he began to make silkscreen prints. the early screen print boat in sand, 1961 in the national galleryâs collection was produced at this time and included in the galleryâs fourth biennial exhibition. in 1961, pratt accepted the position of curator at the newly opened memorial university art gallery in st. john's. he remained at the gallery for two and a half years before deciding to concentrate on his painting full-time, moving his family to salmonier, newfoundland. pratt was the subject of a major touring retrospective organized by the vancouver art gallery in 1985, a touring print retrospective and catalogue raisonnÃ©, the prints of christopher pratt: 1958-1991 in 1992, and a major traveling exhibition organized by the national gallery of canada in 2005. throughout his career, pratt has received many awards and honours. in 1965, at the
1935_births 20th-century_Canadian_painters 21st-century_Canadian_painters Artists_from_Newfoundland_and_Labrador Companions_of_the_Order_of_Canada Flag_designers Living_people Members_of_the_Royal_Canadian_Academy_of_Arts Mount_Allison_University_alumni People_from_St._John\'s,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador Pre-Confederation_Newfoundland_and_Labrador_people