Colville, Forrestall, Pratt & Pratt: The Work Behind the Work

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Images (left to right): Alex Colville, Study for Ocean Limited (detail), 1961-1962, graphite and ink on paper, 18.4x31cm, gift of the artist, Wolfville, Nova Scotia 1998. Alex Colville, Ocean Limited (detail), 1962, oil and synthetic resin on Masonite, 68.5×119.3cm, purchased with funds provided by Christopher Ondaatje, Toronto, Ontario, the Art Sales and Rental Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Private Donor, 1994. Images courtesy of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

The Work Behind the Work: Exploring the Creative Process Behind Atlantic Realism

November 7, 2026 – January 24, 2027
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax

A finished work of art can appear inevitable: complete, resolved, and self-contained. Yet beneath that certainty lies a process of looking, testing, reconsidering, and making. Opening at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the exhibition Colville, Forrestall, Pratt & Pratt: The Work Behind the Work invites visitors into the often-unseen space between an artist’s first idea and the finished artwork.

Bringing together works by Alex Colville, Tom Forrestall, Christopher Pratt, and Mary Pratt, the exhibition pairs finished paintings with preparatory sketches, studies, photographs, notes, and archival materials. By presenting these materials side by side, the exhibition reveals the experimentation, observation, revision, and decision-making that shaped some of Atlantic Canada’s most celebrated works of art.

Images (left to right): Christoper Pratt, Study for Big Boat (detail), 1986, pencil on draughtsman vellum and paper, 23.0×36.8cm, gift of the artist, St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland, 1992. Christoper Pratt, Big Boat (detail), 1986, oil on canvas, 125.0×293.0cm, purchase supported by the Art Sales and Rental Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1997. Images courtesy of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

At the heart of the exhibition is a story of connection. Colville, Forrestall, Christopher Pratt, and Mary Pratt were linked through Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. Colville taught Forrestall and both Pratts, establishing a lineage that would help shape the artistic movement known as Atlantic Realism.

While these artists shared common foundations in observation, composition, and artistic discipline, each developed a distinct visual language and way of interpreting the world. The exhibition explores both their shared roots and their individual paths, offering fresh insight into how four remarkable artistic practices evolved.

Through sustained observation and careful preparation, these artists transformed ordinary moments into works of lasting significance. Their repeated refinements, whether in sketchbooks, preparatory drawings, photographs, or written notes, trace the path from fleeting perception to carefully constructed works of art. By placing these materials alongside finished works, visitors are invited to experience creativity not as a mysterious flash of inspiration, but as a process shaped through curiosity, discipline, and persistence.

Images (left to right): Mary Pratt, Sketchbook: The Pig: Page 6 (detail), 1995, ink on paper, 23.3×27.1cm, gift of the artist, St. John’s Newfoundland, 2005. Mary Pratt, The Pig (detail), 1995, pastel and mixed media on Arches paper, 57.5×76.0cm, gift of the artist, St. John’s Newfoundland, 2005. Images courtesy of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

Visitors will encounter personal sketchbooks filled with compositional studies, preparatory drawings that work through complex visual problems, photographs used as source material, and handwritten notes that capture moments of experimentation and reflection. Far from being merely preliminary steps, these materials reveal drawing as a tool for thinking, offering a rare opportunity to follow an artist’s ideas as they take shape.

The exhibition highlights the distinctive approaches each artist brought to their practice. Christopher Pratt’s monumental Big Boat (1986), for example, reveals a meticulous exploration of scale, geometry, and proportion through the drawings that informed the final work. Mary Pratt’s The Pig (1995) is presented alongside the sketchbook used in its development, illustrating how close observation informed her artistic choices.

For Alex Colville, preparatory studies provide insight into the deliberate decision-making that underpinned his paintings. Drawings associated with Dog in Car (1999) reveal the careful consideration that went into every aspect of the composition, from subject matter to spatial relationships. Tom Forrestall’s materials offer a different perspective, showcasing an artist who treated almost anything as potential sketch paper and whose habit of collecting references, reviews, and personal notes provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes of his practice.

Images (left to right): Tom Forrestall, Sketch for Island in the Ice (detail), 1987, watercolour and graphite on paper, 38.0×57.3cm, acquisition made possible with funds provided by Christopher Ondaatje, Toronto, Ontario, 1994. Tom Forrestall, Island in the Ice (detail), 1987, egg tempera on Masonite, 72.5×214.5cm, acquisition made possible with funds provided by Christopher Ondaatje, Toronto, Ontario, 1994. Images courtesy of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

Drawn from the AGNS Permanent Collection, important loans, and archival materials, The Work Behind the Work offers an unprecedented opportunity to look beyond the finished image and into the thinking that made it possible. The exhibition reveals that creativity is rarely a straight path. Instead, it is a process of observation, revision, experimentation, and discovery.

For anyone interested in art, creativity, or the stories behind the works we admire, The Work Behind the Work offers a unique chance to step inside the studios and minds of four artists whose influence continues to shape our understanding of Atlantic Canadian art.

Colville, Forrestall, Pratt & Pratt: The Work Behind the Work opens at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on November 7, 2026. Find additional information at agns.ca.

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
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Image Descriptions
1. Alex Colville’s painting Ocean Limited overlaid with a preliminary sketch of the artwork.
2. Christopher Pratt’s painting Big Boat overlaid with a preliminary sketch of the artwork.
3. Mary Pratt’s pastel and mixed media work The Pig overlaid with a preliminary sketch of the artwork.
4. Tom Forrestall’s egg tempera painting Island in the Ice alongside a preliminary study for the work.