Harvey Phillip Pratt (born 1941) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

forensic artist Forensic art is any art used in law enforcement or legal proceedings. Forensic art is used to assist law enforcement with the visual aspects of a case, often using witness descriptions and video footage. It is a highly specialized field that co ...

and

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, who has worked for over forty years in law enforcement, completing thousands of composite drawings and hundreds of

soft tissue Soft tissue connective tissue, connects and surrounds or supports internal organs and bones, and includes muscle, tendons, ligaments, Adipose tissue, fat, fibrous tissue, Lymphatic vessel, lymph and blood vessels, fasciae, and synovial membranes.� ...

postmortem An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death; ...

reconstructions.OSBI Forensic Art To this end, his work has assisted in thousands of arrests and hundreds of identification of unidentified human remains throughout America. His expertise in witness description drawing, skull reconstruction, skull tracing, age progression, soft tissue postmortem drawing and restoration of photographs and videos have aided law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally.Brown Pratt also assists investigations through training classes, besides lecturing before universities, colleges, schools and civic groups. In the early 2000s Pratt teamed up with David Paulides in researching

Bigfoot Bigfoot (), also commonly referred to as Sasquatch (), is a large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

on the Hoopa Reservation in California, as well as in his home state of Oklahoma.

Life

Pratt was born in

El Reno, Oklahoma El Reno is a city in and the county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the 2010 census. The city was begun shortly after ...

and is a member of the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

tribes where he is recognized as one of the traditional Cheyenne Peace Chiefs,McDonnell also known as the

Council of Forty-Four The Council of Forty-four is one of the two central institutions of traditional Cheyenne Native American tribal governance, the other being the military societies such as the Dog Soldiers. The Council of Forty-four is the council of chiefs, comp ...

. He has been recognized by the Cheyenne People as an Outstanding Southern Cheyenne.Lester, p. 446 He is the great-grandson of scout, guide, interpreter and

Sand Creek massacre The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Genocide that occurred on No ...

survivor,

Edmund Guerrier Edmund Gasseau Choteau Le Guerrier (16 January 1840 – 1 January 1921), of American and Cheyenne parentage, was a survivor of the Sand Creek massacre in 1864. He was an interpreter for the U.S. government during the Indian Wars between the Cheye ...

. He is the great-great-grandson of American frontiersman,

William Bent William Wells Bent (May 23, 1809 – May 19, 1869) was a merchant, frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding U ...

. Pratt lives in

Guthrie, Oklahoma Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. Its population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7% increase from 9,925 in the 2000 census. First known as a railroad st ...

Forensic Art

Pratt began his career with Oklahoma's Midwest City Police Department in 1965, where, as a police officer, he completed his first composite drawing that resulted in an arrest and conviction. He joined the

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) is an independent state law enforcement agency of the government of Oklahoma. The OSBI assists the county sheriff offices and city police departments of the state, and works independent of the Ok ...

in 1972 as a narcotics investigator and retired in 1992 as an assistant director. He is now employed with the agency as a full-time forensic specialist. Pratt's forensic expertise has contributed to many high-profile cases: The

Green River Killer Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), known as the Green River Killer or the Green River Strangler, is an American serial killer who was convicted of murdering forty-nine women between 1982 and 1998 in the northwestern United States. At ...

(Gary Ridgway),Smith & Guillen, reconstruction credit in photo section Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders (Gene Leroy Hart),Wilkerson & Wilkerson

Henry Lee Lucas Henry Lee Lucas (August 23, 1936 – March 12, 2001), also known as The Confession Killer, was an American convicted murderer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy as a claimed serial ...

and

Ottis Toole Ottis Elwood Toole (March 5, 1947 – September 15, 1996) was an American serial killer who was convicted of six counts of murder. Like his companion Henry Lee Lucas, Toole made confessions which resulted in murder convictions, and which he ...

Bobby Joe Long Bobby Joe Long (October 14, 1953 – May 23, 2019) was an American serial killer and rapist. During an eight-month period in 1984 Long abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten women in the Tampa Bay area in Florida. At trial Lon ...

, The I-5 Killer (Randall Woodfield), Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot,Mayer, p. 33

Tommy Lynn Sells Tommy Lynn Sells (June 28, 1964 – April 3, 2014) was an American serial killer who became known as the Coast to Coast Killer. Although he was convicted of only two murders, one of which he was sentenced to death and eventually executed for, Sel ...

,Fanning, p. 108

World Trade Center 1993 bombings The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by Ramzi Yousef and associates against the United States on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Manhatt ...

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989), known colloquially as Ted Bundy, was an American serial killer who kidnapping, abducted, raped and murdered dozens of young women and girls between 1974 and 1978. His ''modus ...

, Sirloin Stockade Murders (Roger Dale Stafford, Verna Stafford and Harold Stafford),English & Calhoun, pp. 400-401 Joe Fischer, Roger Wheeler murder,Fossett the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

of the

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McV ...

Donald Eugene Webb Donald Eugene Webb (born Donald Eugene Perkins; July 14, 1931 – December 30, 1999) was an American career criminal wanted for attempted burglary and the murder of police chief Gregory Adams in the small town of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania on Dece ...

, Oklahoma State Fair Abducted Girls (Roy Russell Long), and Randolph Dial. In the mid-1980s, Pratt developed the soft tissue postmortem drawing method.Stott Using this method, the forensic artist draws or paints on the photograph of a victim to repair tissue damage or decomposition. The drawing repairs the trauma to the victim so that the final image will be more presentable when asking for law enforcement's or the public's assistance in identification.

Native American Art

Pratt encompasses painting, sculpting, wood carving, mural painting, bronze work, architectural design and graphic design.Pratt He is a self-taught artist and creates in the media of oil, acrylic, watercolor, metal, clay and wood. His artwork is a blend of his forensic art and law enforcement experience with traditional Native American environment. Pratt has received awards for his artwork at Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonials,

Gallup, New Mexico Gallup is a city in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States, with a population of 21,899 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A substantial percentage of its population is Native Americans in the United States, Native American, wi ...

, and

Red Earth Festival The Red Earth Festival is a Native American cultural festival that takes places every June in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Red Earth, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that hosts the festival and maintained the Red Earth Art Center, ...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. In 2005, he was given the title "Master Artist" by Red Earth, as well as being selected as the ''Red Earth 2005 Honored One''. His works are in many permanent collections, including the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the Sequoyah National Research Center, and the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. He accepted state appointments to the Oklahoma Arts Council by Governor

Frank Keating Francis Anthony Keating II (born February 10, 1944, as David Rowland Keating) is an American attorney, politician and a former FBI special agent who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003. , Keating is one of only five gover ...

and Governor

Brad Henry Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 26th governor of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. A Democrat, he previously served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1992 to 2003. As of 2025, he is the last ...

. The Smithsonian's

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

chose Pratt's Warriors' Circle of Honor, a 12-foot tall, stainless-steel circle balanced on a curved stone drum as the centerpiece of the National Native American Veterans Memorial. The memorial was installed outside the museum in 2020, but the official in-person dedication ceremonies did not take place until Veterans Day Weekend of 2022 because of the pandemic.

Bigfoot Forensics & Artwork

Pratt provided forensic artwork for David Paulides in the books Tribal Bigfoot and The Hoopa Project. Through extensive research, interviews and travels, Pratt produced dozens of forensic sketches from witnesses that David Paulides and himself met in California and his home state of Oklahoma. Pratt also has an online store on his own personal website where he sells

bigfoot Bigfoot (), also commonly referred to as Sasquatch (), is a large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

artwork.

Notes

References

*Brown, Michele M. "Native American forensic artist featured at Guthrie Art Walk", '' Guthrie News Leader'', 10 November 2005 *Calhoun, Sharon & English, Billie. ''Oklahoma Adventure''. Oklahoma City/ACP, 2001. *English, Billie & Calhoun, Sharon. ''Oklahoma Heritage''. Oklahoma City/Holt, Calhoun, Clark & Quaid, 1989. * Fanning, Diane. ''Through the Window''. St. Martin's Press, 2003. *Fossett, Judy. "Clues Sketchy In Tulsa Killing", ''

The Daily Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...

'', 29 May 1981 *Lester, Patrick D. '' The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters''. SIR Publications, 1995. *McDonnell, Brandy. "2005's honoree also fights crime", ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...

'', 29 May 2005 *McDonnell, Brandy "Monumental opportunity: Oklahoma artist Harvey Pratt's 'Warriors' Circle of Honor' design chosen for National Native American Veterans Memorial", ''

'', 01, July 2018 *Mayer, Robert. ''The Dreams of Ada: A true story of murder, obsession, and a small town''. New York/Viking, 1991. *National Archives & Records Administration, SW Region Fort Worth, Record Group 5, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Concho (Cheyenne & Arapaho Agency), E12 Land Transactions, Report on Heirship
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Forensic Art
retrieved 2 January 2008
Pratt, Harvey - Native American Artist & Police Forensic Artist
retrieved 27 December 2007 *Smith, Carlton & Guillen Thomas. ''The Search for the Green River Killer''. New York/Penguin, 1991. *Stott, Kim. "Artist Retouches Photos To Help Identify Victims", '' The Sunday Oklahoman'', 31 October 1982 *Taylor, Karen T. ''Forensic Art and Illustration''. Boca Raton/CRC Press, 2000. *Wilkerson, Michael & Wilkerson Dick. ''Someone Cry for the Children: The unsolved Girl Scout murders of Oklahoma and the case of Gene Leroy Hart''. New York/Dial, 1981.

External links

Harvey Pratt's Native American Art & Forensic Art WebsiteOklahoma State Bureau of InvestigationRed Earth Inc.Oral History Interview with Harvey PrattLibrary of Congress Video Interview with Harvey Pratt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Harvey 1941 births Living people People from El Reno, Oklahoma People from Guthrie, Oklahoma Painters from Oklahoma Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes people Forensic artists Cheyenne painters Native American sculptors People from Midwest City, Oklahoma Sculptors from Oklahoma Cheyenne male artists