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Via PR
DENVER, Oct. 15, 2024
The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation and Creative West's (formerly WESTAF) Public Art Archive™ are pleased to announce a new partnership developed to inventory, document, and provide free online access to a comprehensive catalog of Richard Hunt's extensive public art commissions throughout the United States. As the most prolific public sculptor in the United States, Hunt's artistic legacy, seen in works installed across parks, universities, and a multitude of public spaces, is paramount to the history of public art in the U.S. BK Fulton, Chair of the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation (a 501c3 non-profit organization to advance awareness of the artist) remarked: The artist's passing in December 2023, as well as his forthcoming prominent installations at the Obama Presidential Center and The Emmett and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum, generated overwhelming public interest in Richard Hunt's life and practice, making the creation of a digital destination to explore his work an important and timely pursuit.
Richard Hunt's growing archive of public artworks and information about the project is now viewable at https://explore.publicartarchive.org/richard-hunt. With each artwork added to the archive, a new site to visit and explore is added to an interactive map of Hunt's works throughout the country. While the archive project is underway, both Foundation and Archive leaders hope to collaborate with organizations, artists, journalists, and scholars to gain insights and cultivate context—including articles, photographs, interviews, and other materials—to make the archive a robust and comprehensive resource for all audiences.
Richard Hunt's public art practice expanded in the late 1960s, when he was inspired by the 1967 installation of the Chicago Picasso, a 50-foot-tall Cor-Ten steel sculpture in what is now Daley Plaza in Chicago. That same year, Hunt was commissioned by architect Walter Netsch to create a sculpture for the John J. Madden Mental Health Center in Maywood, Illinois, entitled Play (1969).
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Play, as I look back on it, began what has been a second career for me, that of a public sculptor, Hunt would later reflect. Hunt continued to collaborate with architects, engineers, public agencies, private corporations, and communities to conceive of and produce soaring abstract sculptures of Cor-Ten steel, stainless steel, and bronze, often inspired by prominent historical references and figures. Hunt considered his public art contributions and how they enhance the public's experience in that space, saying, Public sculpture responds to the dynamics of a community, or of those in it, who have a use for sculpture. It is this aspect of use, of utility, that gives public sculpture its vital and lively place in the public mind.
Just as Hunt aimed to make his artwork accessible to broader public communities through both form and placement, the Public Art Archive, a program sponsored by Creative West, is rooted in an analogous mission, with the cornerstone goal of creating opportunities for discovery and engagement with public art at whatever level of interest, knowledge or background one might begin exploring.
The Public Art Archive is honored to partner with the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation to bring the artist's public works to new audiences on our platform. As a digital archive devoted to the mission of 'making public art more public,' we are thrilled to be the home for Richard Hunt's public works; Hunt's altruistic approach to art-making and sharing is the exemplar of public art's core values of enhancing community and exploring our shared humanity, noted Lori Goldstein and Alison Verplaetese, who manage the Public Art Archive on behalf of Creative West.
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About Richard Hunt
As an artist and prominent American sculptor, Richard Hunt considered artistic freedom the most important aspect of his career, I am interested more than anything else in being a free person. To me, that means that I can make what I want to make, regardless of what anyone else thinks I should make. At 35, he became the first African American sculptor to have a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Hunt held over 160 solo exhibitions and is represented in more than 100 public museums across the globe. Hunt made the largest contribution to public art in the United States, with more than 160 public sculpture commissions gracing prominent locations in 24 states and Washington, D.C. Hunt was a central figure in Civil Rights-era action and commemorated many African American icons. His body of work explores themes of the African diaspora, African and Western art, mythology, and Hunt's own ancestry, especially in relation to growth, expansion, freedom, movement, and flight.
About The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation
The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation advances public awareness, education, and appreciation of the life and art of American sculptor Richard Hunt. The Foundation was incorporated in Illinois in 2023 to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit at the direction of its founder, Richard Hunt. The foundation welcomes support from all who appreciate the incredible contributions of one of America's most important sculptors. The Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation's vision is to ensure that future generations fully appreciate the life and art of the American sculptor Richard Hunt by encouraging, inspiring, facilitating, educating, and supporting the public's understanding of his work and his place in American and art history. In addition, the foundation aims to support the next generation of sculptors and artists.
About Public Art Archive
The Public Art Archive (PAA) is a free, continually growing database of completed public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad. By uniting records from public art organizations and artists into one comprehensive resource, the PAA aims to provide universal access to the complex stories that characterize public artworks not as static objects, but as dynamic, interconnected keepers of history, context and meaning. The PAA's mission to make public art more public has guided the program's growth into one of the largest active databases of public art. Since its inception in 2010, public art organizations and artists have submitted informational text, images, and additional multimedia files describing completed public artworks for free.
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![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1792084737/qrikvx76nvvt5agq24rq.jpg\")
By CGN STAFF
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center will reopen its Skokie location on November 11, 2026, following a renovation that expands visitor spaces, updates its core Holocaust exhibition and adds a new reflection gallery. The reopening is timed to coincide with Veterans Day. Active military personnel, veterans and their families will receive free admission that day.
The project includes a redesigned Lillian & Larry Goodman Auditorium and Gallery, an enlarged lobby in the Shapiro Family Foundation Welcome Center, and a refreshed Resilience Hall with an expanded stage for presentations and public programs.
Updates to the Zev & Shifra Karkomi Holocaust Exhibition include additional material on the roots of antisemitism, the story of Chicago resident Leo Edelman, and the experiences of other groups targeted by the Nazis. A new reflection gallery, accessible from the exhibition, offers visitors a quiet space during and after their visit.
“Every visitor’s experience now begins differently and runs deeper,” said Kelley Szany, the Museum’s senior vice president of education and exhibitions. “The new welcome center sets the tone from the moment people arrive, the enhanced core Holocaust exhibition brings the history and the voices of survivors into sharper focus, and our new auditorium gives us a place to gather, listen, and talk about what it means for our communities today.”
Existing attractions, including the virtual reality theater, the interactive Survivor Stories Experience holographic theater, the Take A Stand Center and the Voices of Genocide Exhibition, will remain part of the Museum’s offerings.
Following the reopening, Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare will open November 15 in the special exhibition gallery. Created by and on loan from Jewish Museum Milwaukee, the exhibition examines the intersections of politics, antisemitism, freedom of speech and national security during the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. It will remain on view through March 2027.
The Museum’s satellite location in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, Experience360, will remain open through December 31, 2026. The downtown space opened during the Skokie renovation to provide continued access to the Museum’s immersive exhibitions.
For information and ticket reservations, visit ilholocaustmuseum.org.
Image: Museum exterior. Photo by David Seide/Definedspace.com
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By GINNY VAN ALYEA
SOFA Chicago, the longtime fair devoted to sculpture, objects, functional art and collectible design, will return to the city October 28–31, 2027, as part of Chicago Art Fair at THE MART, which opened its inaugural edition last night.
Founded in Chicago in 1994, SOFA became a popular fixture on the city’s fall arts calendar. For much of its history, collectors and visitors gathered at Navy Pier to discover works in glass, ceramics, wood, metal and fiber, alongside sculpture and design. Its focus on materials and craftsmanship gave the fair a distinct identity and cultivated a devoted audience.
The announcement comes as the inaugural Chicago Art Fair gets underway at THE MART. The new fair opened with a preview on October 7 and continues through October 10, presenting modern and contemporary art. Tim von Gal, CEO and producer of SOFA Chicago and CEO of Intersect Art and Design, was in Chicago this week for the occasion.
Organizers describe the 2027 collaboration as two distinct but complementary presentations under one roof, with SOFA’s focus on three-dimensional art and design alongside Chicago Art Fair’s broader offerings.
“Chicago has always been an extraordinary home for SOFA and a city with a deep appreciation for art, craft, architecture and design,” said von Gal in the announcement. “Joining the Chicago Art Fair at THE MART gives us the opportunity to build upon that legacy while creating an exciting new experience for collectors and exhibitors alike.”
Eric Smith, owner of Chicago Art Fair and CEO of Redwood Art Group, said the addition would broaden the fair’s scope while preserving SOFA’s identity.
“SOFA has a remarkable legacy and a distinct identity, and its return adds an important new dimension to the fair while reinforcing Chicago’s position as a destination for collectors, galleries and art lovers from around the world,” Smith said.
For those who remember SOFA as an annual opportunity to encounter ambitious work in craft and design, the return will be welcome news. The participating galleries and programming, still to be announced, will provide a fuller picture of how that legacy will take shape in its new setting.
SOFA Chicago is produced by Intersect Art and Design, which also organizes annual art and design fairs in Aspen and Palm Springs.
Additional details about exhibitors, partnerships and tickets are expected in the coming months.
Visit chicagoartfair.com for updates.
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The artist Richard Hunt
By CGN Staff
Pigment International has dedicated Black Fine Art Month 2026 to Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt (1935–2023), recognizing his contributions to American art and his lifelong connection to the city.
As part of the month’s programming, the organization will host Pigmented: Chicago to the World — A Black Fine Art Convening on October 23 at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts. Partners include the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation, Adler University, CAI Designs, Chicago Public Art Group, Chicago Sculpture Exhibit and Diasporal Rhythms.
Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Hunt developed an internationally recognized practice while continuing to live and work in his hometown. His welded metal sculptures brought together abstract forms, references to the natural world and an enduring interest in freedom and social justice.
Hunt identified attending Emmett Till’s funeral in 1955 as a turning point in his artistic life. Till had lived just two blocks from Hunt’s home. Decades later, Hunt’s public commissions would honor figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens and Ida B. Wells, while also addressing the Middle Passage and the Great Migration.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Hunt to the National Council on the Arts, where he became its first African American member. In 1971, at age 35, he became the first African American sculptor to receive a retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. His career encompassed more than 150 solo exhibitions and more than 160 public art installations.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791479104/lltcodkx39gd8sbhtus1.png\")
Richard Hunt with artist Chris Devins, who recently completed a mural honoring the sculptor in Hyde Park. Photo courtesy of Chris Devins.
Recent projects in Chicago offer new ways to encounter Hunt’s work and history. This fall, the Logan Center opened the Hunt, a café honoring the artist. Created and designed by Little Black Pearl founder and executive director Monica Haslip, the space incorporates two Hunt sculptures, African art, archival materials and photographs by Sandro Miller.
In Hyde Park, artist Chris Devins and historian Michelle Duster have brought a mural of Hunt to 1515–19 E. 54th Street. The portrait is based on photographs Devins took in Hunt’s studio before the sculptor’s death.
“Richard Hunt was a giant in the arts world and people need to see what he looked like and be inspired by his legacy,” Devins said.
Pigment International’s dedication also reflects its own relationship with Hunt. The organization featured him in its magazine in 2020, and he welcomed its Black Fine Art Month programming into his studio in October 2021.
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Two events take place this month:
Pigment International at SPECTRUM Chicago Art Fair
October 7–10, 2026.
Chicago Merchandise Mart, seventh floor, booth #3091.
Wednesday, October 7, 5–8 pm, with a champagne toast in the booth and an artist meet-and-greet.
Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm with Diasporal Rhythms
Featured artists: Jesse Howard, Howard Simmons, Edo, Candace Hunter, Sura DuPart and Max Sansing.
Additional events are taking place during the fair
Chicago to the World: A Black Fine Art Month Convening
Presented by Pigment International as part of Black Fine Art Month, which the organization has dedicated this year to Richard Hunt.
Friday, October 23, 2026, 11:30 am–5 pm.
Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago.
Details at pigmentintl.com