A public art dedication will take place at 2 p.m. April 24 in the Student Center on Carl Sandburg College’s Galesburg campus for the donation of a piece by late renowned sculptor Richard Hunt.
Hunt’s creation, “Winged Hybrid,” will be donated to the college by Naomi Law and Anthony Law III for the enrichment of the Sandburg community and student engagement. All are invited to attend the dedication.
A native of the South Side of Chicago, Hunt, who passed away in 2023, grew to become one of the most prominent sculptors of the 20th century. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he developed his artistic practice and devoted himself to working with metal, teaching himself to solder and later weld discarded metal he scavenged from local scrapyards.
At the core of Hunt’s artistic and philosophical approach was a fundamental concern with freedom: political and artistic freedom as well as personal and universal freedom.
“I am interested more than anything else in being a free person,” Hunt once said. “To me, that means that I can make what I want to make, regardless of what anyone else thinks I should make.”
Throughout his seven-decade career, Hunt staged over 170 solo exhibitions at major museums and galleries and secured more than 160 large-scale public sculpture commissions. Among his works, Hunt paid tribute to American icons such as Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens, Hobart Taylor Jr. and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. In 2022, former President Barack Obama commissioned Hunt to create a sculptural work, “Book Bird,” for the Obama Presidential Center. Learn more about Hunt at richardhuntsculptor.org.
Though not required, you can RSVP for the event here or by emailing foundation@sandburg.edu.