Tienie Pritchard was born in 1938 in the small town of Soekmekaar in the Northern Province. After school he started a career as public servant for the Department of Social Welfare, where he stayed for 10 years. During all those early years, he spent every spare minute of his time sketching and painting.
He applied for a transfer to Pretoria, where he enrolled in the Pretoria Art School to attend night classes in sculpturing under the tuition of the late Eugene Bouffa. The knowledge and skills he gained, as well as the ease with which he excelled, gave Tienie the confidence to resign from public office and to become a full time sculptor. Although the initial years of his sculpting career brought huge financial challenges, he persevered and within two years he received his first public commission – the Family Group entitled Life Cycle, which evoked enormous controversy and catapulted him on a successful career as professional sculptor of international acclaim. After being a professional sculptor for more than four decades, Tienie continuously finds new challenges in his work.  His passion and dedication for his art is well known. He lives on a country estate in the Crocodile River Valley, near Pretoria with his wife Elna and his four children