Herb Mignery

HASTINGS, NEB. -- No name would have fit the new bronze sculpture outside of Hastings Museum better than the one chosen "Hau Kola," a Lakota phrase that means "Hello, friend."

For sculptor Herb Mignery, nothing captures his long relationship with Hastings so perfectly -- even when he and his wife, Sherry, see signs for Hastings while heading there on the Interstate.

"I guess in one form or another, our first reaction is, 'Hello, my friend,'" Mignery said.

That affection for Hastings is what drove the Mignerys to donate to the museum a 10-foot-tall, 800-pound bronze sculpture of a Native American holding a flute. Advertising

At the sculpture's dedication Saturday afternoon, Herb Mignery told a crowd of more than 100 how perfectly the sculpture fits the museum's emphasis on Native Americans' role in Nebraska's cultural and natural history.

Afterward, Mignery said he hoped the sculpture particularly the use of the flute and the figure's contemplative gaze captured the deep spirituality of Nebraska's Native American tribes.

The Mignerys, who now live in Loveland, Colo., moved in the mid-1960s to Hastings, where Herb started his career in art and where the couple began close friendships that live on 45 years later.

"It is really a place of peace and meditation for Sherry and me," Herb Mignery said.

Rhonda Pauley, president of the Hastings Museum Foundation, was also struck by how contemplative and peaceful the sculpture makes him feel.

"It puts you in that meditative, spiritual mood to be ready to go into the museum and expand your horizons," Pauley said.

Mignery approached the museum's leaders about donating a sculpture a few years ago, but Director Becky Matticks said she had no idea the work would be so big and elaborate.

To raise the $15,000 required for the sculpture's base, Pauley sent out a letter to the museum's donors and many of the Mignerys' old friends. She was overwhelmed by the response.

"You can see how much people appreciate their work and what they've done for Hastings," Pauley said. "It's just amazing."

With its size and its prominent spot outside the museum's main entrance on busy Burlington Avenue, the statue should catch quite a bit of attention from visitors and passers-by.

Pauley joked that a sign should be installed on Burlington Avenue, warning drivers not to be distracted by the sculpture.

There was some truth to her statement, at least according to Lyle Fleharty, vice president of the museum's board of trustees.

"I make a point to look at it every time I drive by," said Fleharty, who stored the statue in his garage and helped install it last week. "I'm one of those guys who's going to be dangerous out there (on the road)."