Primarily known for his abstract, welded metal sculptures, Chicago-based artist Richard Hunt created more than 160 public sculptures across the United States. In 1965, he received a fellowship to study lithography at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, where luminaries like Kinji Akagawa, Ruth Asawa, and Leon Golub also had residencies. Many of Hunt’s prints feature organic, sculptural shapes that resemble the skeletal, vascular, and muscular systems of living things. His three-dimensional work usually incorporates welded steel, auto parts, and discarded industrial materials that, like his prints, often resemble living things.

Active during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Hunt became one of the first Black people to be served at the Woolworth’s lunch counter without incident in San Antonio. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Hunt to the National Council on the Arts, making him the first Black visual artist to serve on the council. One of his more recent works is a monument in Chicago dedicated to the memory of Emmett Till.