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Jim Post has spent his whole life creating art.
The resident artist of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the designer of the original Sonic will be celebrating his 85th birthday on Jan. 14, so the number of art pieces is sizeable, to say the least.
Tucked away in his office in the Long room at the CPN Cultural Heritage Museum, you get a faint idea of how much art Post has produced over the years. He has been with the CPN for more than three years and his room is overflowing with his hand drawn portraits of famous American icons and Potawatomi tribal members.
“I’ve always been drawing,” Post said. “I liked art better than anything else.”
Post’s experience with art, specifically paint, got him on board the USS Columbus during WWII. The ship had lost its painter, a key position to avoid rusting, and they knew Post could paint so they ordered him aboard the ship, he said.
He was stationed at Okinawa when the war ended.
After that he enrolled at OU, where he ran track with Dennis Weaver and ran around with James Arness, who both acted on Gunsmoke.
After graduating from OU, Post went to work in Tulsa and then moved back to Shawnee, where he originally moved when he was 2-years-old.
His artwork is an exercise in detail. The hand drawn portraits are offset by pictures of animals, statues and pretty much anything anyone asks him to do, although he shamelessly admits he doesn’t enjoy some of the things people ask him to recreate.
“I enjoy whatever I get into and get to doing,” Post said. “You’re always worried about whether people will like it.”
Post admits to accomplishing a lot during his life. He once unknowingly met Jim Thorpe and he helped give the Sonic Drive-In its name.
“I named the thing. You ever hear of the sonic booms? It was before there was jets,” Post said. He said he was talking to Troy Smith, the founder of Sonic, when an airplane caused a loud Sonic boom. “I said, ‘There’s you a name right there.’”
Post’s birthday celebration will be held in the Long Room at the CPN Cultural Heritage Museum from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sat. Jan. 14. The public is invited to attend and view Post’s art, which will be on display. The museum will also be open for tours.
Jim Post has spent his whole life creating art.
The resident artist of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the designer of the original Sonic will be celebrating his 85th birthday on Jan. 14, so the number of art pieces is sizeable, to say the least.
Tucked away in his office in the Long room at the CPN Cultural Heritage Museum, you get a faint idea of how much art Post has produced over the years. He has been with the CPN for more than three years and his room is overflowing with his hand drawn portraits of famous American icons and Potawatomi tribal members.
“I’ve always been drawing,” Post said. “I liked art better than anything else.”
Post’s experience with art, specifically paint, got him on board the USS Columbus during WWII. The ship had lost its painter, a key position to avoid rusting, and they knew Post could paint so they ordered him aboard the ship, he said.
He was stationed at Okinawa when the war ended.
After that he enrolled at OU, where he ran track with Dennis Weaver and ran around with James Arness, who both acted on Gunsmoke.
After graduating from OU, Post went to work in Tulsa and then moved back to Shawnee, where he originally moved when he was 2-years-old.
His artwork is an exercise in detail. The hand drawn portraits are offset by pictures of animals, statues and pretty much anything anyone asks him to do, although he shamelessly admits he doesn’t enjoy some of the things people ask him to recreate.
“I enjoy whatever I get into and get to doing,” Post said. “You’re always worried about whether people will like it.”
Post admits to accomplishing a lot during his life. He once unknowingly met Jim Thorpe and he helped give the Sonic Drive-In its name.
“I named the thing. You ever hear of the sonic booms? It was before there was jets,” Post said. He said he was talking to Troy Smith, the founder of Sonic, when an airplane caused a loud Sonic boom. “I said, ‘There’s you a name right there.’”
Post’s birthday celebration will be held in the Long Room at the CPN Cultural Heritage Museum from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sat. Jan. 14. The public is invited to attend and view Post’s art, which will be on display. The museum will also be open for tours.
