B. W. Pryor is best known for her large, oversized abstract acrylic paintings on canvas. Many of her pieces employ the use of modeling paste or an extraordinarily thick application of paint (“impasto”) to add a three-dimensional element to her compositions, which often imparts an almost sculptural quality to her work.

 

Her compositions are intended to complement the designs of interior spaces – residential, office, retail, hospitality or institutional. They are explorations of color and their unique application to canvas using unconventional, construction-based tools, like putty knives, sandpaper, chisels and stencils.

 

As an abstract artist, Pryor is self-taught. The inspiration for many of her painting techniques comes from her late father, an architect, whom she often “shadowed” on weekends when she was young, tagging along when he went into work on a Saturday at his professional office/drafting studio or when he drove around town to check progress on construction job sites throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. She would also watch and “help” (as best a child was permitted to do!) as he would make repairs around the house, and he would often take her on trips to the hardware store. Consequently, construction-based materials, tools and environments are no stranger to Pryor, allowing her, by extension, a unique perspective and a unique process in the creation of her works.

 

Pryor spent 20 years as an urban planner, earning a master’s degree and having authored and/or edited several industry publications. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in suburban Maryland, she cannot remember a time when she was not actively involved in some creative pursuit, beginning first with childhood pencil and ink drawings, and progressing to charcoal and pastels. In adulthood, she became self-taught in calligraphy and floral design, and currently, she always enjoys creating dramatic tablescapes for parties and holiday dinners.  She often sketches floor plans, furniture arrangements or landscape plans before embarking on major interior decorating, re-design or exterior landscape design projects for her own home, and looks forward to any opportunity to use her hands in all manner of arts-and-crafts projects.

 

Now that her two children are young adults and off on their own, Pryor is honoring her innate, lifelong artistic talent by selling her abstract paintings.  Please visit BWPryorFineArt.com to see her work.