Mia Pratt is a professional artist, author, blogger and adventuress currently living in her private art studio in San Miguel Allende, Mexico. Mia travels frequently to photograph scenes for her artwork, and to gain inspiration for her writing projects and her blog. She returns to Scottsdale, Arizona, periodically to visit family and attend business meetings related to her artwork and writing, but her base of operations is in San Miguel.
Renowned for her hauntingly beautiful style in both traditional oils and contemporary mixed medium, Mia uses various combinations of oils, plaster, glaze and leafing to create unique works of art that evoke an immediate emotional response. Her style is original and eclectic, combining the grace of centuries past with artistic innovation that challenges the contemporary. Much of Mia’s artwork is sold to-the-trades by private commission, and she is in constant demand for her large-scale, mural-sized paintings. She is often booked months in advance for her large-scale works of art created for the high-end residential and commercial design/build market.
Mia is the founder of Old Pratt Studios, an elite Artistic Services guild serving the Scottsdale design/build community since 1998. She also serves as a dedicated Philanthropic Artist, creating works of art for various charity auctions. Her most recent donation was an 8ft x 4ft installation of Sculpted Plaster for the Phoenix Children’s Museum, which was created under Mia’s direction by artists from her Scottsdale Artist’s Guild, Old Pratt Studios (www.oldprattstudios.com). She has also created works for the Foundation for Blind Children (FBC), Justice for Children, Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society, Logans’ Back Yard (Children with HIV), the Arizona Human Right’s League, and too many others to count.
To learn more about Mia and her art, writing and adventures, you may visit www.miapratt.com.
“Recognizing perfection in the imperfect and finding beauty in the ordinary reveals the nature of art in its purest form - as a momentary glimpse into our humanity. Art isn’t as much about what is created, as it is about the emotions and experiences that drive the creative process. I spent years pursuing perfection in art, seeking to create the perfect tree or the quintessential rosy apple. One day I realized life was passing me by while I performed endless exercises in art, each a hopeful precursor to that next, more perfect work. That’s when I decided I didn’t want to toil the rest of my life to achieve the illusion of a perfect apple; I wanted to go beyond illusion, into the reality of my own being. To do so I had to let go of the drive to create work that would validate me as an artist in the eyes of others and delve inward - beyond my ego and the need for external approval. I had to reach into the depths of my dreams, nurture absurd ideas, expose family secrets and tear open childhood wounds. I had to risk rejection, overcome fears and turn myself inside out - peeling away layers of pre-conceived beliefs about life and art and God until I found what existed at the inner core of my being. And when that transformation was complete, there it was - quiet and uncensored, imperfect and unexpected – in the deepest hollows of my soul, art lives.
This personal transformation had the same affect on my writing. I discovered that what inspires me to write is the profound beauty that exists in simple truth. When captured with the eye of an artist, the humanity of the heart and an uncensored voice of passion, nothing is as precious, fascinating or illuminating as one single grain of it. That is the secret it took me a lifetime to learn and the knowledge that finally liberated me from a quest to gain external acceptance for the fruits of my creative spirit. The truth for me now is that I create simply because I must; everything else is the chaff of circumstance.”
- Mia Pratt, February 2009
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