Artist flips over coin design
Mint alters Jackson’s drawing for quarter.
By MARY JO FELDSTEIN of the Tribune’s staff

Published Tuesday, April 9, 2002

Engravers at the U.S. Mint have put their twists on Missouri’s quarter designs, and Columbia artist Paul Jackson called changes to his drawing "unacceptable" and "a sabotage."

Kate Gorman graphic Source: U.S. Mint, www.statequarters.com

Money Makers The U.S. Mint asked each governor's office to provide from three to five concepts for its state quarter.  In Missouri, first lady Lori Hauser Holden solicited artists' renderings and asked Missourians to vote for their favorites before submitting the top five to the Mint.  Mint engravers then used the concepts to create designs.  Above are the two finalists.

"They took a finished work and turned it to a rough draft," Jackson said. "My understanding was they were going to render our designs on the quarter. That’s not what they’ve done - they’ve rendered mine useless."

First Lady Lori Hauser Holden asked Missourians to submit "design concepts" for the state quarter last year. Those submitted were voted on by mail and at the first lady’s Web site. The top five drawings were sent to the Mint, where artists revised the drawings for technical ease, historical accuracy and artistic value.

The Mint’s versions were presented in March to the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Commemorative Coin Committee for their recommendations, and the one based on Jackson’s original drawing - a canoe with two paddlers on a tree- and bluff-lined river with the St. Louis Arch in the background - was chosen as the favorite. Additional revisions are still to come, and the Treasury Department will make a final decision in several months.

Matt Kilborne, a spokesperson for the Mint, said the Treasury’s decision would most likely reflect Gov. Bob Holden’s preference.

First-round changes to Jackson’s coin include a higher and more-pointed bow on the canoe, which now includes an extra paddler, the misspelling of the word bicentennial and the removal of background scenery and shadows. Kilborne said it is too early to comment on specific changes to the design. He said all the designs are collaborative and none is the work of a single artist.

"Let me emphasize that this is not about the artists - theirs or ours," Kilborne said. "The rules of our program is that we solicit design concepts."

Jackson should have known his design could be changed, said the first lady’s chief of staff, Nia Ray. "The artist and everyone involved in the process knew the U.S. Mint had ultimate discretion, that they could change the drawings in any way," Ray said. "They’ve been very, very willing to communicate with us, however it needs to remain the U.S. Mint’s final decision."

Barton Burnell, another Missouri design finalist, said he knew revisions were possible but that he, too, was disappointed with the Mint’s changes to his quarter, which depicted an American Indian on a river bluff. It now shows an Indian on a hill with wagons in the background.

Beth Deisher, editor of Coinworld.com and a member of the Ohio State Quarter Commission, said the Mint has changed even the most popular designs in other states. Artists across the country, she said, have complained, especially in states that held contests.

"That’s what creates some of the hard feelings and perhaps the misunderstandings. It’s the way it’s presented to the public."

Reach Mary Jo Feldstein at (573) 815-1711 or mjfeldstein@tribmail.com.

 Copyright © 2002 The Columbia Daily Tribune. All Rights Reserved.

For a quarter, the U.S. Mint has bought itself some ill will in Missouri.

Five designs Missouri submitted for consideration to grace the state quarter have been redrawn by a mint artist.

Radical changes to two of the designs have prompted protests by the artists who created them.

To them, the new designs aren't worth a cent, let alone a quarter.

"I was just like, `Wow,' they really changed it a lot," said Barton Burnell, an Independence resident whose design featured an American Indian on horseback on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and a pioneer's wagon far below him.

The redrawn design removes the river, places the Indian on a mound of earth, not a river bluff, and enlarges the settler's wagon and adds a second wagon.

"I know they were going to change things," Burnell said, "But they kind of got away from the whole feeling I was trying to do with it."

The redrawn designs may not be the final designs Missourians will vote on for their favorite later this spring. The artists' protests, along with reaction to the new drawings from advisory boards that review state quarter designs, may influence the final design.

Paul Jackson, a nationally known watercolorist in Columbia, was furious about the changes to his design, which portrayed explorers Lewis and Clark paddling on the Missouri River with the Gateway Arch in the background.

Mint artist James Ferrell added other people to the canoe, made the bow of the craft extremely prominent, changed the way the explorers held their paddles and eliminated the trees that created the illusion of the arch receding into the background.

And to compound the problem, the word "bicentennial" was misspelled as "bicenntenial" on the redrawn version. Jackson had spelled it correctly.

Spokesman Michael White said the mint does not allow its artists to be interviewed.

Jackson accused the mint of not caring about the thoughts of Missouri and its artists.

"They've removed the natural beauty of Missouri," he fumed. "The arch is out of proportion. It isn't centered. And it looks like the canoe has an outboard motor."

On March 21, the U.S. Mint presented Ferrell's drawings to the Commission on Fine Arts, a seven-member panel appointed by the president that has reviewed each state's quarter designs.

Commission historian Sue Kohler said the panel liked the explorers-and-arch and Indian-and-pioneer designs the best of the five that were submitted.

But the commission thought Ferrell's Indian-and-pioneer design might be controversial, because the Indian's intentions are not clear.

Kohler said the commission was not aware that Burnell's original design included the Missouri River, one wagon and not two, and that the wagon was so far away that the Indian and pioneers don't really seem to interact with one another.

Kohler said the explorers-and-arch design "graphically didn't come off because the canoe is coming out from under the arch. The combination didn't work."

The commission did not see Jackson's original drawing, in which the arch was more shaded and symbolic in the background, rather than appearing to be something physical that the explorers were sailing through.

The commission gave the mint its thoughts on the designs, as did the Missouri Quarter Advisory Board.

Nia Ray, chief of staff for Missouri first lady Lori Hauser Holden, said the advisory board questioned why the Indian-and-pioneer design lacked a Missouri River and contained so many oxen and wagons.

The board also criticized the lack of clear detail in Ferrell's explorers-and-arch design, as well as its "clumsy" canoe.

When the board reviewed the mint's design, it did not compare them with the original designs on which Missourians voted last year to pick their five favorites. Jackson's Lewis and Clark design won that contest.

Ray called the mint to convey Missouri's official feedback on the new designs.

White, the mint's spokesman, said the mint would take into account the advice of the Commission on Fine Arts and the governor's office.

"The designs could be modified," he said. "The emphasis is collaborative. We expect people to have strong opinions, and we want to work with the state to make sure it gets the best design."

White said the mint made clear from the beginning that each state was to present "design concepts" to the mint, which would be used as a starting point for the design of the new quarter.

The newly reworked designs next will go next to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. They then will be returned to the state by May 28, Ray said, and Missourians will get to pick their final favorite.

To reach Lynn Franey, call (816) 234-4927 or send e-mail to lfraney@kcstar.com.

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By TIM HOOVER The Kansas City Star
04/21/2001

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missourians have pointed, clicked and picked.

Now it is up to the U.S. Mint to review the five finalists for the state's commemorative quarter.

Lori Hauser Holden, wife of Gov. Bob Holden, on Friday announced the finalists in the quarter design contest. She said more than 175,000 votes were cast online, while about 4,000 were cast in person at the Capitol.

"Kentucky had 50,000 votes" cast in its contest, she said. "We beat that by a long way."

This month officials announced that Missourians would be able to select a favorite from among 12 designs displayed at the Capitol and online. The state had received more than 3,300 designs before paring them to a dozen contenders.

Among the 12 was a design from Barton Burnell, 42, of Independence. His depiction of an Indian on horseback looking out over a bluff made the final five Friday.

Burnell, a camera salesman and part-time artist, has been collecting commemorative quarters from other states. But he would need a much bigger piggy bank if his work goes on Missouri's quarter.

"I can't even imagine how many I would want if it's my own design," he said.

The other finalists included professional artists, a teacher and 13-year-old Natasha Zerjav, a seventh-grader from St. Charles.

Natasha's design depicts a wagon train crossing Missouri under the Gateway Arch. Three of the final five designs featured the arch. [Jacq' sez:  I s'pose the arch is the Missouri symbol <sigh>]

One design shows a steamboat, while another depicts a pony express rider. Lewis and Clark in a canoe also made the cut.

The five designs now go to the U.S. Mint in Washington, where engravers will create images that then go before a citizens' advisory commission and the U.S. Fine Arts Commission. The federal government should send three designs back to Missouri by the end of October.

That means Missourians will have one more chance to pick a favorite from among the three, state officials said.

The U.S. Mint is issuing five new 25-cent pieces every year through 2008. The quarters, while keeping the profile of George Washington on one the side, replace the eagle on the other side with distinctive designs from each state.

The Missouri quarter is to be put into circulation in 2003. It would be the 24th put into circulation, following the order of the states' admittance into the Union.

To reach Tim Hoover, Jefferson City reporter, call (573) 634-3565 or send e-mail to thoover@kcstar.com

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DESIGNS

The committee submitted 5 design concepts to the U.S. Mint on April 20, 2001. 

Jacq' likes these 4 in the order shown
Click on an image to see a larger version

The other design I don't like at all... nor do I really care for the arch, but of course I am from Kansas City.

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