Maria Pratas

As a textile artist, Maria Pratas, recognized that her degree in visual education, centered on visual content and two-dimensionality, drove the need to create in three-dimensional planes. In this sense, the materials she explores are directed towards the creation of textile sculptures of enlarged scale. She takes journeys to eclectic destinations, where a visit to a craftsman’s workshop or to an industrial loom, in coastal or mountainous territories, is one of her itineraries. In her luggage she brings objects and memories that are triggers and from the knowledge of ancient craftsmen, she, as an artist, develops a fusion between several raw materials and the diverse ways of turning them into objects with stories. Creatively, she lives in her atelier, where the territory of the textile gives her a soft comfort and always dominates the whole process.
While creating, she is not distracted by time and, focused on her hands, the objects are sculpted thread by thread and the textile fibers are always close by. Keen on eclectic artistic environments, where each piece has a functional and artistic language, she aims for her creations to come to life and be displayed in environments and places where they can be unique and transformative.

Portugal Manual member and Michelangelo Foundation For Creativity & Craftsmanship / Homo Faber master artisan