Dick, Jack and Richie with the sculpture.
For 15 years, a sculpture of a Kansa Indian has adorned the Kansas Capitol dome, and Salina Presbyterian Manor resident Jack Gillam helped put it there. Jack created the original drawing for “Ad Astra” for his good friend, Salina artist Dick Bergen.
Dick was exhibiting his work in 1989 at Crown Center in Kansas City when he was approached by “Topper John,” a Kansas City attorney who was president of the Kansas Art Commission. He asked if Dick had entered the competition to create a sculpture for the capitol dome in Topeka. Dick didn’t know about it, so Topper John sent him the materials.
Dick researched state capitol domes, and his favorite was Nebraska, which features a farmer sowing wheat by hand. He decided his statue would show purpose and action. Dick also learned the Kansa Indians were the original people of the Topeka area, and he developed the vision of a Kansa Indian shooting an arrow toward the north star.
A photo of the Kansa Indian statue installation atop the Kansas Capital dome.
Dick’s son, Richie, became the model for the artwork. Richie stood on a stool with a toy bow and arrow pointed skyward while his dad took photos from every angle. Jack Gillam, then a principal at Jones Gillam Architects and Engineers, created the drawings from Dick’s photos.
The bronze sculpture went on a statewide tour in a truck provided by Long-McArthur Ford and a large trailer from Donahue Trailer. Dick and Jack vividly remember a stop at the School for the Blind in Wichita, where students studied “Ad Astra” with their hands. More than 20 years after the start of the project, the completed piece was installed on the dome in fall 2002. Gov. Bill Graves, also of Salina, accepted the statue, which is just over 22 feet tall, weighing 4,420 pounds.
Dick’s most recent sculpture is “The Last Cowboy,” completed in 2016. He and Jack continue their longtime friendship and enjoy one another’s company.
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