THE FOCUS

Locate Arts: What has compelled you to engage with contemporary art in your life and profession? Mark Scala: My parents were both trained as scientists, but had a broad appreciation for culture, especially literature. But they also kept a library with art books, and had a few reproductions of significant works, which I thought were magical. But I wasn’t sure I had what it takes to be an artist, so started school in pre-law, but soon decided to...

Astri Snodgrass lives and works in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She is a Lecturer in Painting and Drawing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Snodgrass holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Alabama and a BA in Art and Spanish from Luther College. Experiences in Norway at Nansenskolen Norsk Humanistisk Akademi and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina helped shape her interests in language, light, and perception. Astri Snodgrass, Bound Pigment Astri Snodgrass, Studio Visit, January 2017...

Austin J. Pratt was conceived at Alcatraz on Valentine’s Day 1987 and raised in Reno in the high desert mountains of Northern Nevada. There he fronted the post-punk outfit Spitting Image, served on the gallery committee of the arts non-profit The Holland Project, and worked as a Public Art Conservator and Gallery Manager for the City of Reno. Austin Pratt, Hell is My Maximum, 2016 Austin Pratt, Studio Visit, January 2017 Pratt received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Ne...