There’s a special place hiding in the Nebraska Sandhills called the “Mignery Sculpture Garden” in faraway Bartlett, Nebraska. On a recent visit back to the Midwest, our lovely hosts Russ and Kathy drove us in their Ford truck to Bartlett, Nebraska to check out the bronze artwork installation hiding in the Sandhills; Janna and I are grateful to Russ and Kathy for thinking of us for the experience, and for the kindness and for the amazing journey we shared one hot July morning in the stuffy, and humid, American Midwest. Our host for the morning was the immeasurably wonderful blue-shirted Bob Nichols who has now dedicated his life to the propagation of Herb’s artwork, and their shared legacy, in Wheeler County.

You pull up to the Sculpture Garden — planted right in front, and around — the Wheeler County Museum.

You can see the sculptures are just sort of out there in space, smack in the middle of the village and its streets.


Every sculpture– large or small — has a bronze plaque that explains the genesis, and the inspiration for the bronze Artwork. Bob Nichols encourages everyone to touch and feel the sculptures — it’s a big part of the visceral experience! Bob has a story for each work of Art. He’s an amazing narrator of a long-ago abandoned cowboy lifestyle.

There would be no Sculpture Garden without Bob Nichols. He cares. He shares. He makes your day.

Thanks to those like Bob and Herb who want to propagate Art wherever it may land, we all become better in the shared experience of loving what was, and missing what is long forgotten. In the exemplar, the innovation. In the telling, the immortality.