The sculpture “Ancestral Tree I” has found a home on the campus of the Museum of Cheyenne County. This nine-foot, nine-hundred-pound metal piece stands as a testament to the homestead pioneers who first settled this county in the 1880’s.
Sculptor Glenn Zweygardt created “Ancestral Tree” from pieces of original timber-claim trees on his ancestor’s property in Cheyenne County, Kansas.
These segments of trees were cast in ductile iron and bronze and welded to the column and lintel of weathered and stainless steel which were fabricated in his NY State studio. The bluestone base was purchased from a New York quarry which long, long ago provided bluestone for the base of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island adjacent to Ellis Island where the original Zweygardt immigrants arrived from the Black Sea area, now known as Ukraine.
Zweygardt was a professor of sculpture at New York State College of Ceramics in
Alfred, NY, where he taught for thirty-eight years.
“Ancestral Tree I” won best of show in the 2024 Salina Kansas national sculpture
show, Sculpture Tour Salina. “Ancestral Tree I” celebrates the immigrants of
northwest Kansas.
Zweygardt generously donated the materials used in the creation of this piece,
and a local supporter of the arts made the installation of this sculpture possible.
The Cheyenne Center for Creativity and the Cheyenne County Historical Society
express gratitude to Zweygardt for this historically significant gift to our
community. Additional Zweygardt sculptures can be seen in the Sawhill
Community Park, St. Francis, Kansas.
(Travis Milne and crew from TJ’s Improvements, Gabe Born from Heritage
Lumber, and Kary Zweygardt from the Hardt Gallery each played a part in the
successful installation of this sculpture.)
