When Thomas Beard came home to Kansas after serving in World War II as a U.S. Navy Seabee, he decided to take advantage of the G.I. Bill.
His love of sketching animals on the farm as a young man brought him to art school at Kansas City Art Institute.
“I took courses in art, sculpture and anatomy. Anatomy is a big call when you're sculpting a human figure. I was able to take off from there. I started with small sculptures about a foot high,” says Thomas.
Thomas, 98, now resides at Good Samaritan Society – Olathe and fondly recalls his life of sculpting.
Pursuing creativity
After art school, he worked on sculptures during the evenings and weekends and worked full-time during the day as a supervisor for a government agency..
“I was thinking about going into shows, but I had to make something that would be a little bit different that would still attract people's attention,” Thomas says.
His unique creations captured attention and set him apart.
“His sculptures are displayed all over the world – Canada, England, Germany and Japan,” says Cathy Bell, administrative assistant at Good Samaritan Society – Olathe.
Although he sold most of his sculptures, he still has one.
“He has the first piece he ever made, ‘Duck Flying.’ The detail of it is just amazing,” Cathy says.
Many of Thomas’s sculptures can be found in and around Kansas City – a horse kicking its feet up at the plaza in downtown Kansas City, a nurse and a child at Olathe Medical Center and a group of pioneer people, titled “The Pioneers,” at Pioneer Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Everybody has their own niche that God has given them. It’s amazing for someone to have the kind of eye and imagination to be able to create such masterpieces,” says Cathy.
“It's great to see the work that Thomas does and the way he honors others through his work,” says Fred Pitzl, administrator at Good Samaritan Society – Olathe.
The sculpting process
It took Thomas about three months to make a sculpture.
“You have to build a skeleton first, then you put a netting over that. And then over that netting, you put the clay you’re using. If it doesn’t work quite right, you can open that area up, cut it out and put a new piece in there and then go back and put the clay on,” says Thomas.
Throughout his years of sculpting, his wife was by his side.
“I could count on her to help me. I’d say, ‘Hey, could you do the base down there?’ She’d do that and then she'd say, ‘You've been on that all day. You should take a rest.’ She was good at telling me if something didn’t look right. She knew what was needed. She would also go to town to get me clay. She was a blessing to me,” Thomas says.
Thomas took time to think about different ideas before beginning a new piece. His creations got larger as he gained more experience.
“I liked to build stuff. If I found something that I wanted to do, I got right on it and I stayed on it. I’d go up steps to design the bigger ones,” says Thomas.
Besides sculpting, Thomas also enjoyed painting.
“I think some of my favorite pieces are watercolors. I did an awful lot of that kind of painting and I got good at it,” Thomas says.
Coming full circle
Now that he lives at Good Samaritan Society – Olathe, Thomas gets to see one of his sculptures every day.
The sculpture, displayed in the front lobby, is titled “Caring” and features Robert R. Osborne, an Olathe banker, businessman and philanthropist. A young girl is giving him a flower.
“I really worked hard on that piece because I wanted to show that I could do something like that,” says Thomas.
“I think it’s pretty remarkable that he moved here all these years after creating that sculpture. Thomas has brushes to polish it up and make sure it’s looking good. It’s great to see the pride that he takes in the work that he’s done and how he wants to keep things looking good for folks coming in,” says Fred.
