Portrait of the Artist This self-portrait of Christopher Pratt is bound for the bookshelf, not the wall ASHLEY FITZPATRICK The Telegram

Artist Christopher Pratt's latest work is not a nature scene, not an image of a landed boat or a provincial road. In fact, it is not a new painting or print. Instead, it is a personal book, a self-reflective collection of excerpts from letters and revealing notes, entitled "Ordinary Things."

The writings span Pratt's life and career. They are the second autobiographical offering from the artist published by Breakwater Books. The first, a book of poetry, "A Painter's Poems," was released in 2005.

While neither publication reads as a straight-forward tale of his life, Pratt's history can be read and his thoughts heard through the works, particularly in "Ordinary Things."

Each brief (usually no more than two-page) entry produces a snapshot of the artist at a certain point in time.

For example, early in "Ordinary Things," Pratt includes a few notes from his late-teen years, including pieces of letters home from New Brunswick during his time at Mount Allison University in 1953.

He then leaves his voice behind for a moment, adding that of his mother, Emily Christina Dawe. In an excerpt from letters written to the young artist, dated 1959, Dawe takes a moment to remind her son that "life is more important than art."

The statement becomes an anchor for the man who would go on to create some of the best-known images ever produced by a visual artist from this province, including the design of the provincial flag.

The inclusion of his mother's voice would be important to any reflection on his life, said Pratt.

"I think, more than any other person, (my mother) had a great influence on me," he told The Telegram Monday.

He went on to describe being with her while he was little, colouring in a colouring book with Dawe beside him. He described what he absorbed artistically from those experiences.

"I observed how careful she was with the colours and the brush she was using," said Pratt, who suggested an appreciation for his trademark strong lines may have even come from those early days.

"I was taught to believe that staying inside the lines was essential to good colouring," he said.

Continuing from his mother and his early days, in "Ordinary Things," Pratt includes entries from diaries, slips of paper and notebooks that he wrote in here and there while developing as an artist and, by his mother's spoken wish, also living his life.

The entries reflect time spent by Pratt all over the province - in Placentia, Salmonier, Carbonear, Gambo, the coasts of Labrador and dozens of other regions, inland towns and outport communities.

The entries also make mention of occassions in Halifax and Ottawa; London and Glasgow (where Pratt attended the Glasgow School of Art).

The notes provide Pratt's thoughts, at certain points in his own history, on everything from the Newfoundland Railway, the Burgeo highway, an artist's use of colour and the place of Atlantic Canada in the art world.

He also addresses, in an entry from 1997, his thoughts on the relationship between art and politics.

"I don't believe art has much political clout in any positive sense," Pratt notes at the time, going on to consider the impact of internationally recognized "political" works, such as Picasso's "Guernica."

The entry sits atop a photo from 1980, of Pratt with John Carter and the newly created provincial flag of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is one of the rare times, Pratt said, that his efforts crossed paths with the political world.

"It was supposed to be apolitical and it only got to be political after the fact," said Pratt, who was not paid for the design, "despite rumours to the contrary."

The design, submitted to a committee of legislature and accepted by the House of Assembly, will soon mark its 30th anniversary.

"It was a privilege and they were not obliged, nor were the House of Assembly obliged, to take that submission," Pratt told The Telegram.

"When I see it on the pole, to me it's a flag of the province and not my work on display."

However, he added, "when I see it in that context and when I see it fluttering above some person, some family's cabin in the woods that they love - I feel good about it."

Despite these thoughts and despite the recognition of paintings and print works - such as "Boat in the Sand" and "On Water Street" - Pratt said he still does not consider himself a representative of Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole.

"I don't feel any responsibility to cover the island or feel I have to be representative of the island," he said. "It would be very arrogant of me to think that I could cover the totality of the island."

However, Pratt does reveal the island through his visual work. In the same way, he reveals himself and his own history through his written works.

"There are some ways in which I thought of it as prose poetry, there are some things I thought said a lot about me," said Pratt of the selections included in the book. "My hope is I personally will come across as less hard-edged than my work."

The official launch of "Ordinary Things" is scheduled for Oct. 21 at Bianca's.

afitzpatrick@thetelegram.com

Spring 1959: Excerpts from letters from my mother

From Christopher Pratt's "Ordinary Things":

"Christopher, ... none of this being an artist will come easily for you. You take it all too seriously. Being an artist is no more important or special than being a businessman or a carpenter ... a nurse, a doctor, or a fisherman. It's just another thing that people do. Like everything, some do it better than others, and you will be one of them ... but life is more important than art ... always remember that. And don't talk about 'art' all the time."

- Illustration by The Telegram, from a photo by Ned Pratt