Spirit of Bessie Coleman

Spirit of Bessie Coleman is a twelve-foot-tall painted steel pole sculpture created for this exhibition by artist Bernard Williams. The work honors Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman pilot who broke barriers and paved the way for future generations of Black pilots in the early 20th century. 

Coleman was born in Texas in 1892, and moved to Chicago in 1915, where her desire to fly was born. Because no American aviation school would admit her as a student, she moved to France, and obtained her pilot license in 1921. In this work, Williams celebrates Bessie’s life, utilizing themes and symbols of mobility, inspired by her career in aviation, and her ambition, which progressed history forward.

This abstract metal sculpture is one of two works in CROSSINGS that resemble sign posts, referencing a confluence of past, present, and future by pointing in multiple directions simultaneously. 

The history of Bessie Coleman is also celebrated in Williams’ new life-sized airplane sculpture, Spirit of Bessie Coleman #2, presented inside the Elmhurst Art Museum’s Hostetler Gallery. The piece is visible through the windows of the Museum’s south wall, and you are invited to view it inside during normal Museum hours.