Teresa Prater

Professor Prater retired in May, 2016.

Teresa Prater, Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of Studio Art,  was responsible for teaching classes in painting, drawing, design, and book arts. She received her BFA from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and her MA and MFA in painting and drawing from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.Working in a variety of media including digital photography, artist books and encaustic painting, Teresa primarily uses the figure and supporting symbolic images to create narrative environments. Her artwork has been shown in twenty-five one-person exhibitions and over 100 exhibitions nationally and in Mexico and Switzerland. Several of her drawings have won top awards in juried competitions. Professor Prater was one of six visual artists selected by the city of Spartanburg to participate in the Cultural Exchange Program in Winterthur, Switzerland, where she exhibited her charcoal drawings and participated in a one-week residency. She has been a fellow at the artists’ residencies Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Camnitzer Studio in Italy, and The Hambidge Center in Georgia.

Professor Prater has been active with the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts, where she served eight years as a Master Teacher in the Academy program, an Outreach Workshop Instructor, and a Judicator for the selection of students to participate in the Honors and Academy summer programs. Ms. Prater is past president for the Spartanburg Artists Guild and a founding member of the West Main Artists Cooperative in Spartanburg.