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Cher Pruys
CANADA
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“My earliest marks became a lifelong language of disciplined seeing.”
At the foundation of Cher Pruys’s practice is the desire to transform an image held privately within the imagination into something another person can encounter. Creation becomes a physical translation of thought, instinct, memory, and observation, shaped through the responsiveness of the hand. Rather than treating art solely as representation, she approaches it as an intimate form of exchange between artist and viewer. A finished work carries traces of its original inward vision while opening itself to interpretations beyond her own. This passage from the unseen to the visible remains central to her understanding of artistic expression.
Entranced | Acrylic
$5,000
These three little future ballerinas are simply entranced by the class unfolding before them.
Her sensibility has been shaped by a life lived across several Canadian cities and landscapes. Born in Regina, Pruys later resided in Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Fort Frances before settling in Devlin. Her present home, situated along the banks of the Rainy River, provides a setting defined by natural movement, seasonal change, and quiet observation. Life there with her husband, Mark, four dogs, and two cats brings her into constant contact with distinctive personalities, subtle gestures, and shifting moods. Such surroundings encourage a heightened awareness of atmosphere and the overlooked visual details found within everyday experience.
Kissing Cousins | Acrylic
$5,000
A tender loving moment shared by two wee cousins captured by brush!
“Patience uncovers quiet drama within subjects others might overlook entirely.”
Long before painting became her principal form of expression, drawing had already established itself as a natural language. By the age of three, Pruys was rarely without an instrument for making marks. Pencil, charcoal, and ink became the earliest tools through which she studied shape, value, contour, and proportion. Years spent working with these materials developed the control and attentiveness that would later support her painted compositions. When she began using a paintbrush at thirty-five, she entered a new period of exploration, initially working in oils before discovering a stronger affinity for acrylic, watercolor, and gouache.
Girlfriends | Acrylic
$5,000
What better way to ring in the New Year than laughing with your bestie!
Without formal academic training, Pruys developed her abilities through persistence, experimentation, and rigorous self-evaluation. Being self-taught required her to examine every success and failure closely, gradually building technical knowledge through direct experience. She learned how different materials respond, how pigments behave, and how composition can guide both attention and emotion. This independent education allowed her visual language to emerge without being confined by a prescribed method. Discipline gave her work its precision, while curiosity protected its capacity for discovery. Each challenge became part of an ongoing process through which instinct was strengthened by knowledge.
The seriousness and determination is very evident on the face of this young artist.
The Artist | Acrylic
$5,000
“I learned by working persistently, trusting observation, testing materials, and allowing every challenge to sharpen the independent visual voice that continues guiding my practice today.”
“Art has accompanied me since childhood, but its meaning has expanded with every material, place, and challenge I have encountered. Drawing taught me to notice more carefully, while painting gave me the freedom to interpret what observation alone could not fully express. Glass introduced transformation, transparency, and the unpredictable movement of color, while music deepened my understanding of rhythm, harmony, silence, and balance. Because I did not follow a formal artistic path, persistence became my education and curiosity became the force that carried me forward. Every exhibition, award, publication, and collection has allowed the work to reach farther, yet none replaces the private moment when an inward image first begins to assume physical form. That transformation remains the heart of my practice. I want each completed piece to possess technical clarity without surrendering wonder, to feel recognizable without becoming predictable, and to leave the viewer with something that continues unfolding long after the first encounter.”
Tiny Dancer | Acrylic
$5,000
This wee girl is without a doubt a tiny dancer.
Pruys’s work is grounded in realism, yet her recent paintings reveal an increasing openness to abstraction. Recognizable subjects continue to provide a clear visual foundation, but they are no longer restricted to literal description. Selective emphasis, spatial tension, altered edges, intensified color, and atmospheric passages allow the imagery to move beyond straightforward observation. This subtle abstract influence introduces uncertainty without sacrificing clarity, inviting viewers to consider emotional and perceptual dimensions beneath the visible surface. Her evolving approach demonstrates that realism can remain technically exact while accommodating imagination, ambiguity, and personal interpretation.
Beech Patrol | Acrylic
$5,000
These Beech 18's are awaiting the start of a busy day in the skies of Northwestern Ontario.
What distinguishes her compositions is not detail alone, but the concentration with which each subject is examined. Pruys searches for the quality that gives an image its particular presence, whether found in a figure, an expression, an aircraft, an object, or a fleeting arrangement of color and form. Technical accuracy functions as a beginning rather than an endpoint. Through careful selection and restraint, she creates images that feel immediate while retaining a quieter psychological depth. The familiar is presented with enough intensity that viewers are encouraged to pause, reconsider, and recognize qualities that might otherwise pass unnoticed.
Thee colourful peppers make a great sight all wrapped up!
It's A Wrap | Acrylic
$5,000
The scale of Pruys’s professional recognition reflects decades of sustained artistic commitment. Her work has been accepted into 138 international juried exhibitions, alongside numerous non-juried presentations, and has received 120 awards. These achievements span several demanding categories, including portraiture, figurative painting, aviation, space, and technology. Such breadth demonstrates her ability to apply a consistent standard of observation and craftsmanship across widely different subjects. While every distinction marks an important point in her career, together they reveal a practice capable of communicating across artistic disciplines, institutions, and international audiences.
“Recognition records the journey; experimentation determines where I travel next.”
Several honors occupy particularly significant places within that history. Pruys became the first recipient of the Mary Pratt Crystal Award of Excellence at the 2014 Society of Canadian Artists Open Juried Exhibition. She subsequently received the SCA first-place Award of Distinction in both 2016 and 2017, including recognition during the Canada’s 150 exhibition. Further achievements include the 2018 Mondial Art Academia Gold Medal for Figurative Painting and the 2020 International Art Professional World Art Academia Silver Medal for Portrait Painting. She also received the Aviation Week & Space Technology Best of the Best Award and consecutive ASAA Awards of Distinction.
In The Bag | Acrylic
$4,500
Ah, who wouldn't want to bite into one of the delicious apples in the bag.
Painting represents only one dimension of Pruys’s broader creative life. Her work in fused glass has expanded her understanding of translucency, layering, transformation, and the behavior of color under changing conditions. As a certified teacher of piano and guitar, she also possesses a developed awareness of rhythm, harmony, pacing, and tonal contrast. These disciplines enrich one another without becoming interchangeable. Her painting “The Bubble” was included in the Masterworks from the International Guild of Realism tour, while her longstanding involvement with the American Society of Aviation Artists led to her becoming one of only two Canadians elected as a Foreign Affiliate Artist Fellow.
After a long day of treasure hunting, the fruits of my labor are on display.
Illuminated Vessels | Acrylic
$5,000
Across fourteen solo exhibitions, Pruys has established a body of work whose reach extends far beyond the studio. Her art has appeared on the covers of three books and twenty-one magazines, and it has been featured in more than ninety international publications. Paintings by Pruys now belong to private and public collections throughout the world, giving her imagery a lasting presence across varied cultural settings. Despite this extensive record, her practice continues to evolve through exploration rather than repetition. Realism remains its structural core, while abstraction increasingly enlarges its emotional possibilities and carries her inner vision toward new forms.
Flashback 1960 | Acrylic
$5,000
The memories of childhood flood back in this image from long ago.
“Every material expands the vocabulary through which my imagination speaks.”
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