{"id":267374,"date":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267374\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:21:08","slug":"hays-sculptor-pete-felten-wins-2026-governors-arts-legacy-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/267374\/","title":{"rendered":"Hays sculptor Pete Felten wins 2026 Governor&#8217;s Arts Legacy Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto w-full sm:w-full md:w-1\/2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770137535772.jpeg\" alt=\"Pete Felten. Courtesy photo\"\/>Pete Felten. Courtesy photo<\/p>\n<p>Office of the Governor<\/p>\n<p>TOPEKA\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Governor Laura Kelly and\u00a0the\u00a0Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) at the\u00a0Kansas\u00a0Department of Commerce announced\u00a0the recipients of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascommerce.gov\/program\/kansas-creative-arts-and-industries-commission-kcaic\/governors-arts-awards\/2026-governors-arts-award-recipients\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Kansas Governor\u2019s Arts Awards<\/a>\u00a0at its\u00a0annual\u00a0ceremony\u00a0Monday, February 2,\u00a0at the Docking State Office\u00a0Building in Topeka.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Among the Legacy winners was Pete Felten, Hays sculptor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pete Felten is a 92-year-old (born 1933) limestone sculptor from Hays who has been carving Kansas limestone for nearly 70 years. He first took hammer and chisel in hand in 1957 after serving in the U.S. Navy (1952-1956), where he visited art museums on the east and west coasts and Hawaii. After briefly attending an art league school in New York, he returned to Hays to pursue his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His most prominent work includes the eight-foot-tall, approximately 2,000-pound limestone portraits of Amelia Earhart, William Allen White, Arthur Capper, and Dwight Eisenhower that encircle the Kansas Capitol rotunda, installed in 1981. He won the competitive selection process by creating detailed models of each subject. He chose Silverdale limestone from southeastern Kansas for the Capitol work because he believed it to be \u201cthe finest Kansas limestone, uniform and excellent for statues.\u201d Notably, he declined to sign the work, explaining \u201cthis is Kansas\u2019 work, not mine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ellis County alone contains more than 28 of his limestone sculptures, including well-known figures like Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody. His first large commissioned piece was a bust of Buffalo Bill Cody at the Hays Public Library (1961). The \u201cMonarch of the Plains\u201d buffalo sculpture at Fort Hays State Historic Site (completed 1967) stands 8 feet high and 10 feet long on an 8-foot base, starting from a 24-ton stone. In 2024, bronze plaques were finally added next to his capitol sculptures to credit him for the work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AwEW_aOoz3A\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch Video\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks to the dedicated individuals and organizations in our state who make our communities more vibrant, the arts are thriving in Kansas,\u201d Kelly said.\u00a0\u201cWhen creativity is supported and encouraged, we strengthen intergenerational relationships, boost economic innovation, and improve community identity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These awards celebrate and recognize Kansas artists, organizations, and communities for leadership in improving quality of life in Kansas and encouraging meaningful creative expression through the arts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis group of\u00a0Kansas artists, art administrators,\u00a0and advocates we are honoring from across the state\u00a0continue to\u00a0have\u00a0significant and positive\u00a0impacts\u00a0on our economy\u00a0and\u00a0culture,\u201d\u00a0Lieutenant Governor and\u00a0Secretary of\u00a0the Kansas Department of\u00a0Commerce David Toland said.\u00a0\u201cKansas is\u00a0fortunate\u00a0to have such an array of artists\u00a0who are eager to take their work to the next level, bringing great benefit\u00a0and pride\u00a0to the entire state.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This year, the recipient of the Governor\u2019s Award, which was presented by Governor Kelly to close out the night, is Joe Walsh, a multi-Grammy Award winning musician and Wichita native who has earned global acclaim for his work with the James Gang, the Eagles, and a successful solo career. In addition to his music career, Walsh founded the veterans nonprofit VetsAid in 2017, which has disbursed more than $4 million to veterans\u2019 services charities to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine American rock without\u00a0the\u00a0guitar solos,\u00a0flawless songwriting,\u00a0and the enduring musical career of Joe Walsh,\u201d\u00a0Kansas Arts Commission Director Curtis Young said.\u00a0\u201cJoe\u2019s passion for music,\u00a0paired with\u00a0his generosity and philanthropy,\u00a0makes him\u00a0the perfect recipient for such a prestigious award.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s award categories and recipients are:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto w-full sm:w-full md:w-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770137906094.png\" alt=\"&lt;br&gt;\"\/><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mx-auto w-full sm:w-full md:w-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770137978863.png\" alt=\"&lt;br&gt;\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pete Felten. Courtesy photo Office of the Governor TOPEKA\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Governor Laura Kelly and\u00a0the\u00a0Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) at the\u00a0Kansas\u00a0Department of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-267374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}