photo: Brandon Nguyen
AUSTIN J PRATT
b. 1987austinjpratt@gmail | @austinjpratt
Austin Pratt is an artist, curator, and educator. He is currently the Curator of Sheppard Contemporary & University Galleries at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also teaches courses Painting, Drawing, Gallery Practices, and in the low-residency MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts program.
Recent curatorial practice includes the exhibitions, Wet Incantation: Poetics of Water & Language, and Toward a Tangled Turn: Knots, Nets, Threads, & Loops at Sheppard Contemporary. His work exists primarily through a studio painting practice and as the frontman for the collective psych/hardcore-punk outfit Spitting Image, which he cofounded in 2010. Not wholly dissimilar, his poetic writing and paintings reprocess fragmented image and pattern, with research interests in perception psychology and cultural geography.
Pratt received an MFA in Painting+Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His work has been featured in New American Paintings, and he has been a recipient of the Visual Arts Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council.
Recent curatorial practice includes the exhibitions, Wet Incantation: Poetics of Water & Language, and Toward a Tangled Turn: Knots, Nets, Threads, & Loops at Sheppard Contemporary. His work exists primarily through a studio painting practice and as the frontman for the collective psych/hardcore-punk outfit Spitting Image, which he cofounded in 2010. Not wholly dissimilar, his poetic writing and paintings reprocess fragmented image and pattern, with research interests in perception psychology and cultural geography.
Pratt received an MFA in Painting+Drawing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His work has been featured in New American Paintings, and he has been a recipient of the Visual Arts Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council.
EDUCATION
2018 MFA, Painting+Drawing. University of Tennessee. Knoxville, Tennessee.
2015 BFA, Painting. Museum Studies Minor. University of Nevada. Reno, Nevada.
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022 Array Hum. Artist-in-Residence, Great Basin National Park. Lilley Museum of Art Front Door Gallery. University of Nevada.
2021 To Territory Tile. Depot Gallery. Sierra Arts Foundation. Sparks, NV.
2020 A Gate, Wild, Breathing. Weigand Gallery. Oats Park Art Center. Fallon, NV.
2019 Weeping Laughing Song. With Tom Wixo. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2018 Some Openings: MFA Thesis Exhibition. Ewing Gallery. University of Tennessee.
2017 Not This, Not This. Channel to Channel. Nashville, TN.
2017 Laced. Sheppard Contemporary. University Galleries Museum. University of Nevada.
2016 Skip Tracer. Gallery 1010. Knoxville, TN.
2015 Departing. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2015 Common Fate. Student Galleries South. University of Nevada, Reno.
2014 Sierra Arts Foundation “Galleries at Work”. Bank of America Lobby. 50 W. Liberty St. Reno, NV.
2014 Fugitive Material. McNamara Gallery. University of Nevada, Reno.
2014 Immanent Domain: A Great Basin Gothic. Student Galleries South. University of Nevada.
2013 Chromed. Student Galleries South. With Tom Drakulich. University of Nevada.
2012 SIGIL SCAPES. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Lights Out. Curated by Alana Berglund, Maryanne Carey, and Tom Wixo . Curve Line Space. Los Angeles.
2023 Between Earth and Sky. Curated by Rossitza Todorova. Nevada Humanities. Las Vegas, NV.
2022 Small Works. Soft Times Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
2022 Holding Pattern. Curated by Nick Larsen. Holland Project Galleries. Reno, NV.
2021 Baitball Art Fair. With Window Mine Gallery. Palazzo San Giuseppe. Polignano a Mare, Italy.
2020 Blessing in Disguise. Saint Maison Gallery. Online Exhibition based in London/Tokyo.
2020 Collective Perspective. Garage Door Gallery. Sierra Nevada University. Lake Tahoe, NV.
2020 Valley of the Sun. Holland Project Galleries. Reno, NV.
2020 Connections. Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Reno, NV.
2020 The Jobe Collection: 15 Years. Channel to Channel Gallery. Nashville, TN.
2019 The Village and the Forest. Great Mother Gallery. Portland, ME.
2019 Welcome to Hell. Ironwood Gallery. Knoxville, TN.
2018 UTK MFA. Coagula Curatorial. Los Angeles, CA.
2017 Mall Walker. Curated by Ezra Tessler. Abandoned Foot Locker, Knoxville Center Mall, TN.
2017 Of Mouse and Man. Wedge Ceramics Gallery. Reno, NV.
2017 Orange. Unix Gallery. New York, NY.
2017 Nostos: A Homecoming. Great Mother Conference. Portland, ME.
2016 Skull: 4th Biennial Exhibition. Curated by Chris Bauder. Sahara West Gallery. Las Vegas, NV
2016 A Closed-Mouth Canticle, À Baratear. Curated by Rubens Ghenov. Clarice Lispector Festival.
The Central Collective. Knoxville, TN.
2016 When Words Were Like Magic. Great Mother Conference. Portland, ME.
2016 Peach. The Growlery. San Francisco, CA.
2015 ALL IN: 2015 Invitational. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2015 Hi. Downtown Gallery. Knoxville, TN.
2015 Plaza Promenade. Sandbox Studios. Los Angeles, CA.
2014 Artown 50 Years of NV Wild. Friends of Nevada Wilderness. Reno, NV.
2014 Bathed in Sunshine, Covered in Dust (with Dane Haman). Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2013 Casual Sex/Happy Hour. Sub-MISSION Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
2012 Dead Air/Forbidden Fruit. Arlene Francis Center. Santa Rosa, CA.
2011 Vile Love: A New Western Perversion. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2009 Punk Dust. Sinclair Street Pop-Up Gallery. Reno, NV.
CURATORIAL PRACTICE
2024 Wet Incantation: Poetics of Water and Language. Sheppard Contemporary. UNR.
2023 Toward a Tangled Turn: Knots, Nets, Threads, & Loops. Sheppard Contemporary. UNR.
2022 Alkali Syllabi: UNR Art Department Faculty. Sheppard Contemporary. UNR.
2022 Nothing is Hidden: Advanced Drawing. McNamara Gallery. University of Nevada, Reno.
2022 Constellations: MFA Focused Studio Practice. Sierra Nevada University. Lake Tahoe, NV.
2018 The Speaking Eye: Drawing on Intermediacy. McNamara Gallery. University of Nevada, Reno.
2018 The Side-Eye: Visions of Periphery. SPRING/BREAK Art Fair. Curated by Alana-lynn Berglund, Austin Pratt, & Tom Wixo.
4 Times Square. NYC, NY.
2017 Witness Hand: Introduction to Drawing. Gallery 1010. Knoxville, TN.
2014 Dada and the Anti-Art Aesthetic: Anti-Art Legacies & Dada Local. Student Galleries South. University of Nevada, Reno.
2011 Forage: A Roaming Gallery. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2011 Vile Love: A New Western Perversion. Holland Project Gallery. Reno, NV.
2009 Punk Dust. Sinclair Street Pop-Up Gallery. Reno, NV.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2022-Present Curator and Manager, University Galleries
University of Nevada, Reno.
2020-Present Teaching Faculty, MFA Program
MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts, UNR-Lake Tahoe
Courses Taught:
- Graduate Seminar: Context & Culture of Contemporary Theory
- Focused Studio Practice: Special Topics (“Constellations: Assemblage and the Rhizome”)
- MFA Midway Conversations
- MFA Thesis Conversations
- MFA Studio Mentorship
2018-Present Teaching Faculty
Department of Art, Art History, and Design, University of Nevada.
Courses Taught:
- Graduate Seminar: Art Theory and Criticism
- Gallery Practices
- Painting I
- Intermediate Painting
- Advanced Painting
- Interdisciplinary Drawing
- Drawing I
- Drawing II
- Intermediate Drawing
- Advanced Drawing
2018-Present Program Assistant
MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts Program. UNR-Lake Tahoe. Incline Village, NV.
2019 Class Instructor
E.L. Cord Museum School. The Nevada Museum of Art. Reno, Nevada.
Courses Taught:
- Drawing Fundamentals & Figure Drawing
- Drawing Techniques: Line, Shape, & Form
2017-2018 Graduate Teaching Associate, Instructor of Record
School of Art, University of Tennessee.
Courses Taught:
- Foundations: Introduction to Studio Art I
- Foundations: Introduction to Studio Art II
2017-2018 Graduate Teaching Assistant
School of Art, University of Tennessee.
Courses Assisted Taught:
- Drawing I
- Painting I
- Painting II
- Painting III
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2019-2022 Painting Studio Lab Technician and Studio Assistant
Studio Assistant to Michael Sarich, Emeritus Associate Professor and Area Head of Painting. University of Nevada.
2018-Present Exhibition Assistant to Chief Preparator, Freelance
Nevada Museum of Art. Reno, NV.
2018-Present Exhibition Assistant to Chief Preparator, Freelance
Stremmel Gallery. Reno, NV.
2016-2018 Gallery Director
Gallery 1010. University of Tennessee Galleries.
2016 Studio Assistant
Jered Sprecher, Professor and Area Head of Painting+Drawing. University of Tennessee.
2013-2015 Gallery Director & Public Art Coordinator
City of Reno Galleries and Permanent Collection.
2013-2015 Permanent Collections Assistant
School of Arts, University of Nevada.
2013-2015 Painting Studio Lab Technician and Studio Assistant
Studio Assistant to Michael Sarich, Associate Professor and Area of Painting. University of Nevada.
2007-2012 Production Supervisor/Screen Printer
Action Embroidery & Design. Reno, NV.
2006-2007 Camera Operator/Production Assistant
KTVN News Channel 2. Reno, NV.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE EXPERIENCE
2025 Search Committee Member
School of the Arts Director .
College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno.
2024 Search Committee Member
Director, MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts.
College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno.
2024 Search Committee Member
School of the Arts Program Manager.
College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Reno.
2022-Present Chair
Visiting Artist, Scholars, and Exhibitions Committee.
Department of Art, Art History, & Design, University of Nevada, Reno.
2019-Present MFA Thesis Committee Member
2018-Present BFA Thesis Committee Member
2015-2018 Graduate Student Representative
School of Art Graduate Committee. University of Tennessee.
2015-2018 Committee Member
School of Art Graduate Student Steering Committee. University of Tennessee.
2015-2018 Founder/Co-President
Painting+Drawing Club. University of Tennessee.
2012-2013 High School Art Mentor
Strangers Project and Exhibition. Hug High School and Holland Project. Reno, NV.
2010-2015 Gallery Committee Member
Holland Project Galleries. Reno, NV.
2009 Trail Building Team-Member
Great Basin Institute. Central Nevada.
WORKSHOP INSTRUCTION & DEMONSTRATIONS
2024 A Painting is a Picture that is Also an Object: Supports and Surfaces Workshops I & II.
Teen Open Studios. The Holland Project. Reno, Nevada.
2023 Gallery Practices Workshop. University of Nevada, Reno.
2019 High Desert Bauhaus 100: Life Drawing in Color.
Teen Art Night. The Holland Project & Nevada Museum of Art. Reno, Nevada.
2018 A Painting is a Picture that is Also an Object: Supports and Surfaces Workshops I & II.
Teen Open Studios. The Holland Project & Nevada Museum of Art. Reno, Nevada.
RESIDENCIES
2021 Great Basin National Park.
2015 St. Mary’s Art Center. Virginia City, NV.
ARTIST LECTURES & PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2025 MFA-Interdisciplinary Arts Lecture Series. Holman Arts and Media Center.
University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe
2023 “Sculpture & Topology: Julian Hoeber and Chris Herald”. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Austin Pratt. October 12, 2023.
University of Nevada, Reno.
2022 “Fred Reid: The Heart of the Matter”. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Austin Pratt.
Oats Park Art Center. February 26, 2022. Fallon, NV.
2022 "Art and Science at Great Basin National Park". GPNP Foundation. Panel Discussion.
Moderated by Dr. Kenji Hakuta. Panelists: Austin Pratt and Serena Wurmser. January 2022.
2021 “Covid Comix”. Panel Discussion with Ilya Arbatman. Moderated by Austin Pratt.
Holland Project. November 28, 2021. Reno, NV.
2021 “Trembling Grass / Vibrating Grass”. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Austin Pratt.
Panelists: Julia Schwadron-Marianelli, Michelle Lassaline, Nate Clark. Oats Park Art Center. August 14, 2021. Fallon, NV.
2020 “Valley of the Sun: A Virtual Salon”. Nevada Humanities. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Austin Pratt.
Panelists: Alisha Funkhouser, Jeannette Martinez, and Jonathan Cummins. July 17, 2020. Reno, NV.
2020 “Austin Pratt and Ahren Hertel”. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Jared Stanley. Oats Park Art Center. February 1, 2020. Fallon, NV.
2019 “The Salon: The Poetry of a Song”. Panel Discussion. Moderated by Britt Curtis.
Panelists: Austin Pratt, Watson Meyer, and Iain Watson. Nevada Humanities. July 19, 2019. Reno, NV.
2018 “Some Openings: Heightened Language for a Generative Studio Practice”. Artist Lecture. Art Writing Symposium.
Art History & Visual Culture Studies Program. University of Nevada, Reno.
2017 Painting+Drawing Visiting Artist Lecture. University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.
2017. MFA Artist Lecture. University of Tennessee. Knoxville, TN.
2015 BFA Artist Lecture. University of Nevada, Reno.
SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS
2020 City of Reno Artist Grant. Sierra Arts Foundation.
2019 2020 Visual Arts Fellowship. Nevada Arts Council. State of Nevada.
2017 Terry Burnett Memorial Scholarship. School of Art. University of Tennessee.
2016 School of Art Summer Fellowship. University of Tennessee.
2016 Dorothy Dille and Orin B. Graff Materials Award. School of Art. University of Tennessee.
2015 Chancellor’s Fellowship. School of Art. University of Tennessee.
2015 Graduate Teaching Assistantship. School of Art. University of Tennessee.
2014 Educator Scholarship. Third Triennial Art + Environment Conference. Nevada Museum of Art.
PUBLICATIONS
2020 New American Paintings. No. 144, West Issue. Juried by Rebecca Matalon, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston.
Edited by Steven T. Zevitas. Open Studios Press: Boston.
2020 Valley of the Sun. Exhibition Catalog. Holland Project Galleries. 54 pages. August 2020.
2020 Austin J. Pratt: A Gate, Wild, Breathing. Exhibition Catalog. 64 pages. February 2020.
2019 Weeping Laughing Song: Collaborative Drawings by Austin Pratt & Tom Wixo.
Exhibition Catalog. 48 pages. August 2019.
2016 Studio Visit Magazine. Vol. 33. “Austin J. Pratt.” Juried by Michael Lash. Edited by Steven T. Zevitas. Open Studios Press: Boston. 2016.
2012 Sympathy for the Detail: Northern Nevada Artists. Group Exhibition Catalog. 35 pages. NGTVSPC Ext 02.
SELECTED CITATIONS
2022 “Q+A: Austin Pratt”. Jaedyn Young. Double Scoop.
2021 “Goo-Smearing and Other Rituals”. Soft Power Radio with Ilya Arbatman. Interview. KWNK Radio.
2020 “5Qs with Ahren Hertel and Austin Pratt”. Interview. Holland Project.
2020 "Matching Picture: Austin Pratt’s World was a Good Place to Question My Own”. Josie Glassberg. Double Scoop.
2019 “In Conversation: Austin Pratt & Tom Wixo”. Interview. KWNK Radio.
2017 "New Home For Student-Run Gallery 1010". Amy Blakely. Tennessee Today. 16 October 2017.
2017 “Archive Deep Dive.” Josie Glassberg. Reno News & Review. 24 August 2017
2017 “The Focus: Austin Pratt.” Brian Jobe. Locate Arts. 12 January 2017
2016 Studio Visit Magazine. Vol. 33. “Austin J. Pratt.” Juried by Michael Lash. Edited by Steven T Zevitas.
Open Studios Press: Boston. 2016. p. 161.
2015 The Brushfire Literary & Arts Journal: Spring 2015. Cover image and two-page spread. University of Nevada, Reno
2014 “100 percent, All In: A Fundraising Art Show”. Ashley Hennefer. Reno News & Review. 25 September 2014.
2014 “Austin Pratt, Image Maker: 15 Minutes”. Brad Bynum. Reno News & Review. 27 February 2014.
2014 “Spitting Image: Love on a Terror: 7””. Maximum Rocknroll #372. May 2014.
2014 “Spitting Image: Love on a Terror: 7””. Ryan Nichols. Razorcake. May 2014.
2014 “Reno punks Spitting Image releasing a 7", planning LP”. Andrew Sacher. Brooklyn Vegan. 22 January 2014.
2013 “Little Picture Show”. Ashley Hennefer. Reno News & Review. 05 December 2013.
2012 “Spitting Image: Valley Floor: 7””. Matt Korvette. YellowGreenRed.com. December 2012.
2012 “Spitting Image: Valley Floor: 7””. Ian Wise. Razorcake. November 2012.
2012 “In Rotation: Spitting Image”. Brad Bynum. Reno News & Review. 27 September 2012.
2011 “Art, Rock”. Brad Bynum. Reno News & Review. 08 September 2011.
2011 “Ride Here, Ride Now”. Laura Davis. Reno News & Review. 21 July 2011.
DISCOGRAPHY
2023 “Full Sun” LP. Spitting Image. 33rpm 12”. Slovenly Recordings.
2019 “Not This, Not This”. Spitting Image. C-30 cassette EP.
2018 "Some Openings". Austin J Pratt. 33rpm 7" flexi-disc. This Not This X01.
2015 “Icon Alive” C-30 cassette EP. Spitting Image. Casino Trash Records 06.
2015 "Guide to Permanent Oblivion Vol. III". LP Compilation of Northern Nevada artists. Intruder Alert Records.
2014 “Love on a Terror” 7” 45rpm EP. Spitting Image. Broke Hatrè 12 / NGTV 4.
2013 “Live at Recycled Records”. C-30 cassette. Spitting Image. Broke Hatrè 09/ NGTV 03.
2012 “Valley Floor”. 7” 45rpm EP. Spitting Image. NGTV 01.
2011 “Spitting Image/Thee Indoors”. Split c-30 cassette. Spitting Image. NGTV 00. Reno, NV.
MEMBERSHIPS
Foundations in Art: Theory and Education (FATE), Association
National Art Education Association
College Art Association
PACCIN (Preparation, Art Handling, and Collections Care Information Network)
Nevada Museum of Art
Great Basin Community Food Cooperative
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
C. Kermit Buck Ewing Museum Permanent Collection. University of Tennessee.
John and Geraldine Lilley Museum Permanent Collection. University of Nevada.