As a child, Shari Pratt had no sense of permanency.
Often, her parents would pick up their things, move the family to a new town and remake their life. "I went to like 14 different schools," the Maple Ridge artist said, "so it was difficult to make new friends all the time."
Pratt's constant search for companionship and belonging - rooted in her transitional upbringing - is the basis for her mixed media portraiture series, Lost and Found, which is on display this and next month at Coquitlam's Place des Arts.
Pratt started the collection about three years ago after uncovering some old photos at a New Westminster antique store.
The people in the pictures "spoke" to her through their expressions or the way they posed. In a way, Pratt said they became part of her family as she interpreted them on canvas.
Over the years, as she travelled around the world, Pratt continued to collect photographs, mostly from the 1940s to 1960s era and, later, people would email her old pictures of their relatives. "Every time I got an image that spoke to me I had to do it. I feel like there's a message they're trying to convey."
Pratt tells the story of a woman who sent her a picture of her mother. Each time Pratt picked up the brush to paint the mother, specific music chimed in Pratt's head. Pratt then found a Josh Groban opera lyric about a lost soul and included it in the painting. When the woman saw the finished product in the gallery, "she said, 'Oh, my mother was an opera singer. How did you know?'
"It happens to me all the time," Pratt said. "I'll be painting a portrait and then I have to include a reference for some reason.... I know it sounds weird but the more I look at them and the more I paint them, the more I know them."
Pratt said she has a deep connection to painting subjects from 50 to 70 years ago. "When I look at my travel photos, I can see that I focus on peeling paint or heritage homes," she said. "Perhaps, it's because I grew up in a lot of older houses. I don't know. But I love museums and I love what they have to offer."
Pratt's theme of "here today, gone tomorrow" is common with her work. Last year, when she was chosen to be the first visual artist-in-residence at the Port Moody Arts Centre, her Cotton Candy Friends portraits centered on the topic of social media and whether Facebook 'Friends' were substantial or merely a sweet filling such as cotton candy.
The opening reception for Shari Pratt's Lost and Found is April 4 at 7 p.m. at Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave.). Also exhibiting in the Atrium Gallery until May 4 is a ceramic series called Seeds by Vin Arora, a pottery teacher at Place des Arts. Meanwhile, Pratt will lead a workshop at PdA on mixed media painting on April 28. To register, visit placedesarts.ca.
