State of the art: Artist develops 

medallions for downtown beautification project

In the creation of 11 state symbol medallions, artist Daniel Ney studied his subjects closely and determined how to make them as true to life as possible, as if they were sitting there waiting to be grabbed.

While researching one of his favorites, the ornate box turtle, Ney had hands-on experience with the Manhattan Zoo’s box turtles. He learned how their bodies articulate and traverse the land. He wanted to depict them in their environment, while also including a few sizes through their growth.

“I love what I do, and I’m passionate about it,” Ney said.

The medallions were developed for Downtown Topeka Inc.’s project to beautify S. Kansas Avenue. Each of the round medallions consists of the state outlined with one of the symbols depicted. They are two feet wide and 50 pounds apiece. Ney molded them in a 1,900-square-foot studio with a 20-foot roll-up door that was once a motor shop he shared with his brother in Manhattan, Kan.

The symbols include familiar favorites like the sunflower and western meadowlark, along with more obscure entries like the marine fossil Tylosaurus and Harney loam silt soil.

Ney, who recently moved to Kansas City, Mo., is a 2014 Kansas State University graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture. He submitted a proposal last August to create the medallions and was awarded the project in September.

“The planets aligned, and I’m happy and grateful. This is the first project in my career after college,” he said.

Ney began drawing in the eighth grade and took every art class he could in high school. When he started at K-State he wanted to be an architect, but he changed his major to sculpting before his second deployment to Iraq began in 2011. He spent eight years in the Army Reserves.

He especially enjoys working with bronze, aluminum and cast iron, and he also does fabrication. Ney is currently working on a project for JE Dunn Construction Company in Kansas City.

Research inspirations

Ney said doing research for the medallions was half the fun. Holding an object, touching it, rolling it between his fingers and smelling it were some of his inspirations.

While researching the ornate box turtle, Ney also observed turtles at K-State and learned why their shell is a different color on top, with its yellow streaks. He said this happens to the shell because of things the turtle scrapes against. There are four box turtles that may appear to be swimming after rain collects in the medallion.

Ney is a member of a family of four, “so there might be a hint of that in this one too,” he said.

Another medallion features the state amphibian ­— the barred tiger salamander. Ney, who was born in Hutchinson, said he would catch salamanders on his grandparents’ farm in western Kansas, outside Belpre, as a child. He said he can remember the texture from grabbing them from under Ed and Marjory Scheufler’s house.

“I included the stripes of the salamanders into the background, as well as them in action,” Ney said. “When I played with them as a child, they were always burrowing down under things, running away from little grubby kids’ hands. Sometimes you’d only see a tail or an arm, and you’d have to catch them.”

He has a connection to each medallion he has created, and each has a different meaning to him.

Ney’s parents, Jerry and Lisa, both grew up on farms in western Kansas. A farmer with a plow pulling team working the fields is shown on the state soil medallion. There is actual soil burnt and permanently locked into the Harney loam silt medallion.

“The rough area cascading down the left border is actual silt from Kansas, the same kind as Harney loam,” he said.

Another medallion features the western honey bee, the state insect. Ney said it was more technically difficult to create because each honey bee was sculpted separately and welded from the bottom.

The honey bees are depicted from pupae and larvae to fully emerging in their different stages of growth.

“I had a lot of fun learning and making these,” Ney said. “Studying the anatomy, I learned so much about bees that I had never imagined.”

Flora and Fauna

Ney said that medallions for the sunflower and the Tylosaurus, the state marine fossil, were the “most fun.” The sunflower is captured growing wild with some clouds and articulate pedals.

The Tylosaurus fossil shown is the largest one in the state and at the University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum.

“Because this one is a little-known state symbol, my dad felt it was necessary to include a phonetic spelling,” Ney said. “Also, some sort of representation of how big it actually is, thus the little man swimming.”

The state tree medallion was inspired by plains cottonwood trees that grow outside of his art studio in Manhattan. The leaves would blow in to the work area, and he took them and waxed them into the bronze.

“Outside my studio, the Cottonwood Trees rained down leaves this past fall. I was easily able to collect the leaves and study them, even incorporating a few into the design,” Ney said. “For me, the materials and where they came from is of utmost importance. Kansas trees for a Kansas sculpture, what’s more perfect than that?”

Ney said he would see the meadowlarks sitting on the fences on and around both his parents’ farms. “I wanted to highlight their majesty and give this symbol due credit,” he said.

Ney went to the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan to learn about the little bluestem grass.

“After living in Manhattan on and off for years making the drive down 177, I’ve enjoyed the rolling hills and the sway of this grass,” he said.

His depiction of the state motto links with the state’s connection to spaceflight.

“I thought it was important to draw the connection between reaching for the stars and Kansas’ astronaut heritage,” Ney said. “Three Kansan KU graduates had varying roles in various Apollo missions and for every mission was a corresponding ‘Mission Patch’ At least one of them has an image of Apollo gazing in the distance. I felt connecting this piece and having him gaze towards the capital was fitting and honorable. Additionally, there are 34 stars in the background — giving note that Kansas was the 34th state to join the union.”

The flying fossil Pteranodon medallion includes two depictions of the species — one intact, and the other with the bones exposed to feel with your fingertips.

“With a 20-some foot wingspan these creatures had the body of a small dog. As this being the state flying fossil, I felt it needed to also be represented in fossil form. Also the pronunciation would be difficult for young learners, so I included it phonetically also,” Ney said.

Each medallion will get more beautiful with time, and the patina will start to show. The colors of the bronze will change, as people touch them and their natural skin oils wear a bit of the sealant off the medallion, Ney said.

‘Humbling experience’

When he was laying the medallions along the sidewalks of S. Kansas Avenue, Ney said “people would come up and ask who did them and what they were and if they were real — like the turtles.”

It was a “humbling experience,” he said.

It is “just such an honor to be chosen from my state, and I believe in my state and where I’m from. Dawned on me a few months ago that these would be here forever,” Ney said.

Architect One, Downtown Topeka Inc., the Topeka Community Foundation and the Kansas Department of Commerce all worked together to make sure the project was complete.

“We had issued proposal requests and received several concepts and interpretations to represent each medallion with a circular shape and with the state outline and state symbol,” said Scott Gales, president of Architect One and architect for the project.

“All of the artists’ submissions were great, but Dan’s stood out,” Gales said. “His art was representing everything we wanted. He is extremely creative.”

After Ney submitted his proposals for approval, Architect One didn’t request a change on any of them. In February, the medallions were approved, Gales said.

“I’m proud to attach my name to something bigger than myself,” Ney said.