Kerri Pratt
A Derbyshire based fine artist, Kerri Pratt’s work documents the ‘Treasure Houses’ of this part of the East Midlands. Her work uses mixed media – acrylic, oil, pastel, watercolour – to record not the great historic houses such as Chatsworth, Holkham Hall, and Calke with their constructed landscapes but rather the industrial structures in the landscape – the collieries, mills and factories of the industrial revolution and the more recent past.
Many of her works are large, bold canvases. Far from the ‘dark satanic mills’ of the urban, industrial landscape, the images are often bright and colourful with a contemporary palette, although the shapes and forms may be hard edged and almost geometric. There is a clear contrast between natural forms and man-made forms. Water is alive with light and ripples; trees are soft and more yielding but the overall effect is of a cohesive juxtaposition.
These digital reproductions do not adequately represent the variety of textures and marks in the works – strong dry brushwork, layered paint, feathery marks and smooth, glazed areas.
“In the Moment” 2014
“Room with a View” 2014