By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Pete Felten's sculptures, the larger-than-life bronze cast of Buffalo Bill just outside Oakley and the overwhelming collection of grassroots art in Lucas are among the 24 finalists for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art.

They are joined by the Kansas art collection in the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art in Manhattan. Ross and Marianna Beach, the benefactors of the museum, had been longtime residents of Hays.

Although Felten's stone sculptures are commonplace in Hays, they are well known elsewhere, including at the State Capitol, where full-size statues of Amelia Earhart, William Allen White, Arthur Capper and Dwight Eisenhower grace the rotunda.

Felten expressed his delight when he learned of other nominations to the elite list Thursday, especially the nomination of the Garden of Eden and what is being called the "Grassroots Art Mecca" in Lucas, which includes the Grassroots Arts Center.

Now 75 years old, Felten started carving in 1957, while he was attending school under the GI Bill.

"I said I used to draw, so I ought to take a painting class," he said.

That wasn't quite a perfect fit, so he tried his hand at carving in stone, choosing Abraham Lincoln as his subject.

"It looked like him," he said.

That's when he realized the match.

"It's in the basement somewhere," he said of that first sculpture.

He tried to learn about stone sculpting and "realized there wasn't any place to go."

He did take a break and traveled to New York, hoping to learn all he could about carving in stone.

Felten instead said the best part was going to plays every day.

But he realized he needed to head home, and he's been carving since.

"Fifty-one years this month," he said.

On Thursday, as the list of finalists was being named, he was picking through his supply of rocks out behind his shop.

"My rock pile is getting depleted," he said.

Felten has gone through a lot of rock.

Although he couldn't even hazard a guess at the number of sculptures he's made, he said they would number in the thousands.

"I've had hundreds commissioned," he said.

Those commissioned sculptures are generally the larger ones, such as the "Monarch of the Plains" that stands in front of Historic Fort Hays.

"When you do it for 50 years, you get a lot done," he said.

Although many of his best pieces were commissioned works or have been sold, he still has his favorite piece in the yard at his residence.

That piece is of a woman holding a dog, a sculpture he said he probably completed back in the 1960s.

"Sometimes, it just turns out right," he said of the life-sized piece.

That sculpture anchors what had been a stone gallery, until many of the pieces were purchased a couple years ago.

His yard, he said, used to be a "jungle gym for kids," who tried to move about the yard without touching the ground.

They were able to do just that, he said.

Although Felten no longer sculpts the large, commissioned pieces, he still works every day.

"I feel bad if I don't," he said. "It's a drive you don't want to fight."

Voting can be done online at www.8wonders.org through Oct. 15. The top eight will be announced Oct. 31.