Artist Creates Statue of Holy Mother With Christ in Her Womb
Artist Harvey Pratt at work in his studio. Photos Cara Koenig/Sooner Catholic.

By Greg Horton
For the Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two local artists and a local business owner have teamed up to produce the first in a planned series of statues featuring the Holy Mother. The first is entitled “O Dayspring.” The statue’s subject is a very pregnant Holy Mother, with one hand on her heart and the other on her distended belly. Her features are striking for people who are used to European or Latinized versions of the Holy Mother; her features are more Semitic, harsher, with no soft lines and no creamy skin.

Diane Culbertson, the owner of Sacred Relics, and the statue’s creator, Native American artist Harvey Pratt, made a joint decision to feature a less European Mary, and one that looked more like a “real woman.”

“Diane and I were talking about a Virgin statue she had in her store,” Pratt said. “We decided we wanted to do a less-stylized piece. We wanted her to appear more natural. We gave her broad hips, made her less European.”

“The Passion of the Christ broke barriers of how we view our Lord and Mary,” Culbertson said. “Harvey wanted to make her a real woman, and to sculpt her in the position of distress, as if she is defending her child.”

The statue is sixteen and a quarter inches tall and comes in two colors, cobalt or neutral (ecru). Only Mary’s face and hands are visible. She is robed and cowled.

The title comes from the O Antiphons recited during Advent. For December 21, the antiphon is: “O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting:  Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.”

“Art makes you look at life differently,” Culbertson said. “This is a meditative piece; people see different things in it. One woman told me Mary looks as if she already knows what will happen to Jesus. We just wanted it to reflect that Mary is carrying the light of the world, thus the name O Dayspring.”

Local artist Terry Dolese created the logo to accompany the statue, and whereas the statue is somber, meditative, and almost brooding, the logo is light, floral, and colorful. It is an interesting contrast, and serves to infuse the project with the light and hope to be expected when the subject is Christ as Dayspring.

Culbertson chose Dolese to do the logo because she was familiar with Dolese’s work and believed she would be an excellent addition to the team. “I wanted to use all local people,” Culbertson said. “Terry has been a friend for years, and she’s a talented artist. She also created the logo for Sacred Relics. We also chose Gooden Manufacturing in Kingfisher to produce the statues because we wanted to keep everything local.”

In addition to being a local artist, Harvey Pratt is a nationally-known, award-winning artist, whose specialty is Native American art. However, he has done a few religious pieces, including a hand-carved crucifix that hangs in the chapel of St. Mark’s Church in Norman. Pratt is also a sketch artist for law enforcement agencies, including the OSBI.

Culbertson will be tithing off proceeds from the sale of the statues, with the tithe going to organizations that specialize in mothers and families such as Birth Choice. There will be two more statues in the series. Culbertson said she’d prefer to keep the subjects a secret for now.

Sacred Relics is located at 333 NW 5th St., just west of the Oklahoma City National Memorial.