The artist who built the 22-foot Bronze Statue of a Native America that sits atop the Kansas Statehouse Dome, has died. Richard Bergen was 95. His daughter, Lori Bergen, says he died last week at an assisted living facility in Salina of complications from a stroke. Bergen created several other public art pieces through the State, including in Marysville, Salina, Junction City, Wichita and Manhattan. He was named distinguished Kansan of the Year in 2006. But his most well known work is the 4,420 pound capitol sculpture that depicts a loincloth-clad hunter with his bow drawn and arrow aimed at the north star.
