Wiley Post Was a Visionary 

Oklahoma pilot, Wiley Post, was visionary, despite blindness in one eye. He revolutionized aeronautics by making the first solo flight around the world, discovering the jet stream, and inventing the pressurized suit that inspired the modern-day astronaut suit. His scientific contributions changed air travel and influenced Oklahoma’s aviation industry.  

A monument of Wiley Post, Beacon of Vision, will soon tower over Post Road on land set aside at the Route 66 Park near Arcadia. The 50 ft. sculpture symbolizes Post’s significant accomplishments and champions the spirit of innovation. 

“I want this monument to convey Wiley Post’s boldness and audacity,” said Nathan Pratt, the Native American artist who has dreamed about this sculpture for more than a decade. “It’s important to preserve his history, but also acknowledge that Post was a hero with handicaps. He had a visual handicap, he dealt with depression, and he even spent time in the state reformatory—but he overcame all those barriers.” 

Initially, Pratt was commissioned to design a small bronze of Wiley Post for an Oklahoma non-profit award, much like an Oscar. The award fell through, but the poignance of Wiley Post stuck with Pratt, and it became his passion project. “Post’s vision was greater than human eyesight,” Pratt said. “He inspired me, and I decided that I will sculpt Wiley Post–if it takes my whole life.” 

In Pratt’s eagerness to move the statue forward, he didn’t wait for a public art commission. Instead, he designed the prototype and started searching for the right home, offering to fundraise for the memorial if a partner would provide the land. Visionary 

Wiley Post Was a Risk Taker

Wiley Post learned to fly at a young age, gaining experience in a flight circus, and eventually making the first solo flight around the world. 

Pratt had planned on a traditional career, completing a marketing degree—but art kept tugging at him. Raised by a family of artists, he grew up with the smells of paint, lead solder and clay. Pratt’s grandmother was a painter and ceramicist, who first placed clay in his hands and encouraged his creativity. Pratt’s late mother, his greatest cheerleader, was a stained-glass window artist who accommodated his need for artistic space. Pratt’s uncle, Charles Pratt, a metal sculptor named as a Living Treasure in New Mexico, taught Pratt about managing an artistic career. 

Pratt’s father, the famous Cheyenne Arapaho artist, Harvey Pratt, is a painter, wood sculptor, and bronze artist. In 2020, he designed the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., and he has worked over 40 years as a forensic artist for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI). 

Such artistic influences gave Pratt the courage to enter a full-sized grizzly bear sculpture at a Red Earth Festival competition as a college student. “I’d learned how to sculpt with chicken wire and concrete from my dad,” Pratt said, “and Mom built me a home studio so I could really make a mess, with concrete splattered everywhere.”

Unsatisfied with his creation, Pratt sought to make the fur look more realistic. His brother suggested construction caulk, so Pratt invented an extruding technique, similar to cake decorating with a pipette. He meticulously applied silicon fur onto the entire sculpture. “Most Red Earth entries are jewelry or paintings, small things, not huge concrete pieces–but that was me, going down a rugged path, trying to figure out what it meant to be an artist,” Pratt said.

Although Pratt didn’t win, his humongous bear was purchased, and the same customer asked Pratt to carve a dead tree trunk at his house into a grizzly bear.” Pratt agreed, although he’d never done chainsaw art before. It took him down a new path. A Risk Taker.

Wiley Post Got a Second Chance 

Chainsaw carvings kept Pratt self-employed throughout his twenties. People would drive by, see him working, and offer him his next job, but Pratt decided to get a traditional job, following in his father’s footsteps. 

“My dad is my hero; the first Native American combat Marine to step foot in Vietnam. So, I went to the police academy and became an OSBI artist, working alongside my dad, but it wasn’t the right job for me. Dad understood my decision to leave, and Mom gave me permission to stay home rent-free while I explored self-employment,” Pratt said. “We all need second chances. God clearly put me in a family that is creative and willing to foster my interest.”  

When Wiley Post was in his twenties, he struggled to make ends meet as a roughneck in the Oklahoma oil field, which is also where his eye was damaged. Wiley Post was arrested for armed robbery and spent a year in prison at Granite, Oklahoma. “But he got a second chance, and he made good on it,” said Pratt. “Redemption is important.” 

Wiley Post Was an Innovator

As Pratt leaned into his independent art career, he continued to experiment with every sculpting material imaginable, including three-dimensional water shapes that involved filling his rent house with pond liners, pumps, and plenty of sheet plastic. 

“It was during a Shark Tank episode that my dad and I started talking about all the inventions and ideas I had. Could I be a sculptor and an inventor? My dad had done both,” Pratt mused. So, he studied the patent process, and Pratt now has four utility patents and several more in development, which range from art products to kitchen devices and firearm improvements. 

He also began teaching at the non-profit, Creative Oklahoma, which supports the development of inventors, creative thinkers and entrepreneurs. Pratt was introduced to his next project while taking some after-school students on a field trip to the Myriad Gardens. There, he was contracted to create giant flower ornaments to hang down from the Crystal Bridge. 

“I’ll never forget the moment when visitors first looked up through the foliage to see these giant flowers illuminated,” Pratt said. “They gazed in surprise, and then took out their phones and started taking photographs. I was deeply satisfied by their enjoyment. That’s when I fell in love with this idea of public art. It fostered my interest in large-scale public art.” Innovative. 

Wiley Post Still Inspires 

Wiley Post continued to ruminate in Pratt’s mind. Eighteen months ago, he presented Beacon of Vision to Edmond’s Director of Public Art, Cinda Covel, who said “Give Edmond a chance to find a place for this.” 

While awaiting the green light, Pratt modified the monument from a highly-detailed bronze into an Art Deco stainless steel interpretation, honoring the era in which Wiley Post lived. The riveted steel panels reflect a symbolic link to airplane manufacturing. Pratt plans to add a granite aviator’s compass at the base to acknowledge Post’s time of incarceration in Granite, OK.   

Although Wiley Post never lived in Edmond, evidence of his life ripples throughout the state. A replica of his airplane, the Winnie Mae, hangs in the main hall of the Oklahoma History Center. An Alaskan grizzly bear at the Oklahoma City Zoo is named for Wiley. Artifacts from the 1935 Alaskan plane crash that took Wiley Post’s life are on display at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, and Wiley Post is buried at Memorial Cemetery, just blocks from Edmond’s border. 

Construction of Beacon of Vision awaits the completion of fundraising efforts, although Pratt hopes to build the memorial during the 2026 Route 66 centennial. “Even small donations add up and allow individuals to feel a sense of ownership of this monument,” Pratt said. “Wiley Post’s vision of aviation revolutionized the world,” said Pratt. “His life embodied adventure and his raw creativity inspired me.”   

Wiley Post and Nathan Pratt: visionary, innovative, risk takers.  

Visit BeaconofVision.com to learn more or make a tax-deductible donation.