Contact Expert Sculptor and Skilled Teaching Artist Jen Pratt
About Jen:
About Horse Artist Jen Pratt’s Artworks:
From sculptor Jen Pratt: I create handmade clay sculptures and 2D artworks including drawings and paintings. I specialize in horse art and sculpture, but have taken a long break from 3D work due to tendon issues in my hands. At this time I can’t accept commission work, but I do sell my 2D and 3D artworks that are featured on this site. In early 2022 I should be back to my 3D work, so keep an eye open for new artworks!
Art Classes by Teaching Artist Jen Pratt:
Sculptor Jen Pratt has been offering free art instruction on her art websites since the early 2000s, and by late-2023 will be offering more in-depth art classes including video and much more!
See more concerning AI, how I pick my subjects, and new art availability here.
* Due to theft and hacking, this site has been locked down from copying, hotlinking, and RSS feeds. I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.
Besides being an artist, I’m a wife, a web designer, and horse enthusiast. I love riding the trails on my main squeeze, Jax. Jax has a muscle disorder and needs specific management, so researching and optimizing his care has been a big part of the last twelve years he’s been with me. For more about Jax, visit www.pssmhorses.com.
Gardening, studying herbs, and taking care of my farm and animals are also a big part of my life. I run a small, personal organic farm that utilizes some permaculture and food forest practices. I grow herbs and organic veggies to give myself and the horses a source of clean foods. This has been a huge part in helping me through my chronic Lyme journey, and has proven good for the horses as well. Fore more about this, visit www.creativeherbals.com.
I also love photography, visiting local parks and hiking the trails, and urban exploration including abandoned structures. I’m a huge proponent on “take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints” and enjoy finding the history on old buildings and sharing their stories. My parks, trails, and abandoned site is www.trailsabandoned.com.
I only do a select amount of web design work outside of my own projects, depending on my availability and the type/scope of project. For more about my web design work visit www.jenpratt.com.
FAQ's About Jen and Her Artworks:
Fine art should be kept in temperature controlled areas, therefore time of shipping is critical in making sure your new artwork arrives safely. Intense temperature shifts of heat or cold can affect clay artworks by causing expansion cracks, therefore shipping of sculptures may be delayed due to weather. Any purchasers will be kept up to date on any delays, and your patience with this process will be highly rewarded with the arrival of a flawless art piece!
Typical room temperatures of houses and offices are no issue for clay sculptures, even with bases, even with a bit of a temperature swing from open windows, etc. As long as your plumbing isn't freezing, your sculptures will be just fine!
The short answer is yes. Though there are examples of clay pieces lasting hundreds of years, small parts like ears, legs, etc. can be fragile. When attached to a wood base or other material, cracks can appear in the clay piece due to differing expansion temperatures, so they shouldn't be exposed to extreme heat or cold. All fine art should be kept in temperature controlled environments, but that’s especially important for a clay piece that’s attached to a base. See my How To Sculpt Clay post for more information on the clay medium.
Yes! Each fine art original is scanned in high quality (600 x 600 dpi), then printed by a quality Epson printer onto photo paper that is archival in nature. This includes all fine art prints for sale as wall art, ACEO cards, note cards, etc.
Downloadable art prints: my original horse drawings, figurative art, and paintings can be purchased as printable art and cool phone backgrounds. You'll get one 5"x7" downloadable art print that can be used as:
- wallpaper for mobile, tablet, or desktop (will not be full screen on desktop)
- shared on social media
- printed as a fine art print
- as a coloring page for children and adults (black and white images best suited for this)
These artworks are available for immediate download for your personal use. While downloaded images can be shared on social media, please contact me for commercial or other web or print related uses.
Visit the Printable Art Gallery for more information about downloadable artworks by Jen.
* Final artwork quality for downloadable artworks will depend on your printer.
Very rarely, but at this time I’m not taking any commissions.
Teaching artists are professional artists that also work as educators. These educators don't have to be in a scholarly setting, online classes and other platforms are also acceptable venues for education.
I do! With my love of horses, I intend to do some horsehair pottery once I get my pottery equipment together. I love pottery but have never had the setup for it, so that is in my 2-5 year plan (hopefully by 2025).
Jen is not only a clay sculptor / horse artist, but is also a WordPress web designer. She designs websites for small business and other artists, and also maintains some of her own personal website projects. Here are links to her other websites:
- WordPress Web Design - see my web design portfolio and learn more about the services I offer.
- PSSM - Jax's Story - bringing a horse with a muscle disorder back to healthy!
- Parks, Trails, and Abandoned Structures - includes some of Jen's abandoned photography!
- Creative Herbals - Living With Chronic Lyme. Includes horse keeping and gardening tips and tricks, and some info on being a horse artist with a chronic health condition.
FAQ's About Jen's Art Classes:
Login is required for some art classes, including some free classes and all paid/premium courses. Login is useful for keeping track of the classes you've taken and your progress, and if you'd like to be notified when new art classes are available.
You can use your WordPress login if you have one, and your data will not be shared or sold!
Absolutely - I've been contacted by a number of teachers who've used these online art classes in their lessons! Unfortunateley with the site locked down due to hacking and theft, printing the classes from the website isn't possible. I'm currently working on downloadable versions of my classes for this purpose - for now, please contact me and I'll get you the information you need.
Water based clays are made from clay and water; oil-based are made from oil and clay. Water based will dry out and must be kept moist until an artwork is finished, whereas oil based isn’t reliant on being covered to keep it wet and pliable. It is up to each individual artist or clay sculptor to decide which type of media they prefer, and at this time water based is by far my favorite.
Clay doesn’t have a lot of structural strength when wet. Larger pieces will deform, sag, and can completely destroy themselves from their own weight without some sort of rigid support. However, that rigid support must be removed before firing.
If you’re not planning to mold/cast the artwork, then kiln-fired water based clays really are more structurally sturdy than unfired water based clays. You can’t dry out an oil based clay. Oil based won’t vitrify like water based. While heating it can reduce pliability and viscosity, you can’t create a “finished” oil based clay sculpture.
If you're working with water-based clay, then a kiln really is essential. You can use air-dray clays, but they're not as durable as kiln-fired clays. While having your own kiln is wonderful, it's not always necessary if you live near a school or teaching studio, as many of these venues are willing to fire ceramic artworks for a small fee.
I love the texture and work-ability of water based clays. I can develop incredibly highly detailed artworks when molds and casting aren’t involved. While the finished product can be delicate, the same is said of fine porcelain – these are works of art, and not meant for utilitarian purposes, so a bit of fragility is okay when the piece should be handled delicately anyway.
Unfortunately, this is not something I can fit into my schedule at this time. Clay sculptures especially are very time consuming, and can take weeks to complete just the unfired sculpture. This is why I’ve created the demonstrations in an online format – so others can learn at their own pace.
Though I don’t give personal instruction, I’m happy to answer questions! Feel free to comment or ask questions on individual posts or contact me. I love to hear your questions, and I've modified some of my classes over the years based on artists' questions!
