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Caroline is a Print Designer and part time Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Textile Design course whose practice and research interests explore ideas relating to the connections between nature and wellbeing and the role this plays within the field of textiles, commercial print design and pedagogical practice. Finding particular interest in natural systems and cycles and connections between these and the technical aspects of repeat pattern creation.
The importance of encouraging a socially conscious approach to design and enabling students to develop a sustainable practice is integral to Caroline's philosophy on teaching; keen to raise awareness and challenge attitudes within printed textiles and surface pattern on the global impact of design and how it can be used as a force for change and positive impact.
Having joined the course in 2011, she sites her main areas of design specialism as her ability to work with colour alongside the application of printmaking across varying substrates; previously working as a print technician in the University and continuing to explore analogue print processes as part of her ongoing design practice.
Caroline's own design practice seeks to question the value of commercial production within the sustainability debate, having designed commercially for many years within the greetings and surface pattern arena she now focuses on developing work which encourages closer connections to process and the long term relationships between consumer and print. Outside of the University; Caroline’s work with arts charities such as the Crafts Council and West Yorkshire Print Workshop sees her working to ignite in others a passion for printmaking and print design, promoting an appreciation for craftsmanship and the value of slow production.
Conference Proceedings
Pratt, C. and Wadkin, G. (2019) ‘A case study of collaborative practice: working to promote cross-curricular thinking and making within schools’, Futurescan 4: Valuing Practice – FTC Fashion and Textile Courses.
Exhibitions
Bainbridge, S., Gaston, E., Pratt, C., Scott, J. and Wadkin, G. (2018) Make Your Future. Vernon Street Gallery, Leeds Arts University. 28 June – 16 August 2018.
Conferences, Talks & Presentations
Pratt, C. ‘Flourish and fade: utilising colour in textiles to promote closer connections to the natural world’, The Power of Colour: Textile Society Conference 2019. Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, UK. 9 November 2019.
Pratt, C. and Wadkin, G. ‘A case study of collaborative practice: working to promote cross-curricular thinking and making within schools’, Futurescan 4: Valuing Practice. University of Bolton, UK. 23 January – 24 January 2019.
Pratt, C. ‘Rethinking commercial textile design frameworks to align with biophilic theory’, Activating Biophilic Cities Conference. University of Greenwich. 4 September – 5 September 2018.