Charlie Pratt was of Cheyenne-Arapaho and French descent and grew up surrounded by art and artists. As a child, he watched his grandfather, a jack-of-all-trades, make everything from jewelry to houses, and he learned early how to shape people and animals from river clay between El Reno and Concho, Oklahoma.
Charlie and his brother Harvey, a well-known painter, started dancing on the powwow circuit while in elementary school. He met artists like Woody Crumbo, Woody Big Bow, and Dick West and admired their work. But it was in high school, upon seeing some bronze statues, that he knew he wanted to become a sculptor.
He was enterprising and built his own foundry to cast his work, but eventually decided he was more suited to creating art than producing it, and gave up the foundry.
Called a "wizard" and a "genius" by his peers, Pratt worked in cast bronze, metal, and stone, although he preferred to weld with an acetylene torch. This approach enabled each piece to be unique. Adding patinas, inlay, engravings, or embossing, the sculptures were truly personalized.
Pratt's work earned him a listing in the 14th Edition of Who's Who in American Art and acclaim from collectors. He won numerous awards at museums and fine art and invitational shows nationwide, with commissioned works in state and federal buildings and museums, including the Heard Museum, the Philbrook Art Center, and the Oklahoma Science and Arts Foundation. He was named "Artist of the Year" by the Indian Arts and Crafts Association in 1985 and 2004, and received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. Over his career, he earned more than 400 awards, which enabled him to buy better materials and pursue larger projects. It was just like Charlie to look at a First Place or Best in Show not as an end in itself, but as a means to venture into new frontiers.
One of his wood-and-metal sculptures was on display in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building when it was bombed in 1995. It survived and is now on permanent display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Perhaps his most famous pieces are his bronze life-size ears of corn, or even stalks or small fields, with kernels made individually from stone, shell, and metal. The corn cobs pictured here are part of Charlie's Blue Corn series. The corn stalks are made of brass tubing; the leaves are brass sheets cut, shaped, and applied by torch. Pratt cut the turquoise and other beads for the corn kernels, Santo Domingo-style, and glued them into the cob with epoxy. The beads are fashioned from blue and green turquoise, coral, lapis, 14 karat gold, and serpentine. He always used exceptional stones even when he could barely afford them.
My brother, Jackson, participated in the Indian Arts and Crafts Association shows for over 30 years, where we first met Charlie Pratt. He was a quiet, humble man with a dry sense of humor and amazing talent and creativity. Vendors and artists always crowded around his booth when he was setting up, anxiously waiting to see his new work. I remember when he arrived at a show in Scottsdale with his Blue Corn sculptures. They were the talk of the show, and in such demand that, for a while, he had time for little else.
Charlie passed away in 2017 after a decade-long battle with Parkinson's. He came to visit us at the gallery a couple of years before he died, and although compromised by Parkinson's, he was still talking about his next idea and his next creation. His art and the art of his fellow artists kept him engaged and excited about life.
Charlie's work rarely comes on the market, but we recently received two sculptures from his Blue Corn series. They are treasures! The owner generously asked us to sell these and put the proceeds in Jackson's Fund for Native Artists, which allows us to continue Jackson's philanthropic efforts. We draw from this fund when artists and their families have an acute need. I think Charlie and Jackson would be pleased that Charlie's lovely Blue Corn stalks will be going to new collectors of his work, and the proceeds will be set aside to help other Native artists.
