Virtual Conversation: Richard Hunt—Scholar’s Rock or Stone of Hope or Love of Bronze | September 1, 2021

>> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Good evening, I'm Courtney Graham with Engagement  Programs at the Art Institute of Chicago. Welcome to today's virtual  conversation with legendary Chicago sculpture Richard Hunt. On the  occasion of his exhibition "Scholar's Rock or Stone of Hope or Love of Bronze." First I'd like to thank the Mickie  Silverstein Endowed Fund for supporting today's program. We're  glad to have you joining us virtually.  We hope this digital format can offer  a chance to stay connected to the Art Institute from home. This program is  being recorded, so if you'd like to revisit it in the future,  you'll be welcome to do so. We'll begin with a brief review of some  of the features we'll be using today. This program will be shared in  presentation mode, so we have turned off video and microphones for  attendees. For optimal viewing, please select "full screen" under view  options in the top right corner of your screen. Throughout the presentation you're invited to share questions through  the Q&A feature at the bottom of the screen. We look forward to answering  some of those at the end of the presentation. Closed captions  are available and can be turned on via the controls at  the bottom of the screen as well.

If you encounter any technical  difficulties during today's program, again, please let us know in the Q&A  and we'll do our best to assist you. Now I'm honored to introduce our distinguished speaker. Raised in  Chicago, Richard Hunt graduated from the School of the Art Institute in  1957. And in 1958 his work, "Hero Construction," was acquired by the Art  Institute. While still a student at SAIC, he began exhibiting his sculpture  nationwide and his work, "Arachne," was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art  in New York. In 1967 his career began to take him outside the studio with  his first slarj kale public sculpture chigs entitled "Play". This piece  marked the beginning of a new chapter in Hunt's career, one that gave him  opportunity to work on sculpture that responded to the specifics of  architectural or other designed spaces, and the dynamics of  diverse communities and interests. Since that time he has created over  150 commissioned works. Many of these works are in the Chicago area,  including "Jacob's Ladder", at the Carter G. Woodson Library, "Freeform",  on the exterior facade of the State of Illinois Center, "Flight Forms" at  Midway Airport, "We Will" at the Heritage at Randolph and Garland  Court, and most recently, "The Light of Truth," a monument to Ida B. Wells in Bronzeville.

Hunt has received accolades and  recognition throughout his career and was the first African-American sculptor  to have a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His  work can be found in numerous museums as well as both public and private  collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National  Gallery, National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the  Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the  Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1968 he was appointed by President  Lyndon Johnson as one of the first artists to serve on the National  Council on the Arts, the governing board, for the National Endowment  for the Arts. He has received fellowships, prizes and awardses  and holds 15 honorary degrees from universities from Universities all over  the country. In 2009 he was award the the Lifetime Achievement Award by  the International Sculpture Center. Richard will also be the recipient  of the upcoming Legends and Legacies, presented by the Art Institute's  Leadership Advisory Committee. We look forward to honoring Richard  next June at the celebratory event.

Joining Richard in conversation is Ann  Goldstein, deputy director and chair and curator of Modern and Contemporary  Art, and Jordan Carter, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art  here at the Art Institute. Thank you for joining you go and now I  will turn things over to Ann. >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: Thanks, Courtney.  Thank you, Richard, for joining us tonight. And welcome everybody for  joining us virtually. Jordan and I are thrilled to engage in this  conversation with Richard, and on the occasion of his extraordinary  exhibition that is currently on view at the Art Institute until September  20th. We hope very much that you'll have an opportunity to see it, if  you haven't. And if you have, to come back again before it's closed. And  I wanted to now just turn it over to Jordan. Thank you. >>  JORDAN CARTER: Thank you, Ann. And yes it's an amazing privilege to  be here with Richard. And although he needs no introduction and Courtney  gave such a marvelous one I thought I'd give a brief one of my own. One of  the most illustrious graduates of the  School of the Art Institute, Richard  Hunt is a Chicago legend and one of  the most important sculptors of our  time. In a career spanning more than six decades, Hunt has consistently  and dynamically engaged the  possibilities of metal sculpture  in relationship to space, the body, and the built environment.  He engages sculpture as a form of improvisation, an unfolding dialogue  as the artist expresses between me, the technique and the material. As we  can see in the next slide, developed  intuitively his works emerge from a  shape visualized in his mind, cut into  metal and welded together in a process  that can continue for many years.  Inspired by the medium itself he often  reuses scraps and found metal and  responds to the needs of the material  and what he refers to as a, quote,  "ongoing process of things getting  built and grown." It has been a -- our honor and deep privilege to celebrate  an artist who, as you will see in  the next slides, was in many ways,  shaped at and by the Art Institute, as a student, as an artist, and as  a patron. I want to turn it over to  Richard, because you cite, Richard,  the groundbreaking exhibition organized  by the Museum of Modern Art in New  York in 1952 and which traveled to the  Art Institute in 1953, as a critical  influence on your development.

And particularly the "La Montserrat"  by Julio Gonzalez on the right of the screen. I was hoping we could speak  about this exhibition at the Art Institute and its lasting impression and how it   prompted you to begin working in metal. >> RICHARD HUNT: Thank you for the opportunity. Looking at this picture of Julio  Gonzalez with -- the picture of the "La Montserrat" by Julio  Gonzalez takes me back to the period of  time when that exhibition came from  the Museum of Modern Art to the Art Institute. And I had been like -- most  people who decide they're going to  be sculptors, to work in -- at  the time in clay, plaster, working  figuratively for the most part, but  seeing that exhibition -- and I can say  in particular this work of Gonzalez,  which was figurative and -- and  expressive. And in a very important  way. Led me to think more about the  possibilities of working in metal.  And also at that particular time too, and in that exhibition, were a number  of works by a developing group of British sculptors, Reg Butler and  some others that were working directly  in metal. And I guess I was in  my third or fourth year at the Art Institute, but anyway, I thought  oh, there's a metal craft class. So

so, I took that along with my,  you know, sculpture, which like I say was mostly modelling and clay and  plaster. But it gave me a beginning, the metal craft class, of thinking  about how to work in metal. And I started out by soldering small  metal figures, but in my mind was the idea, gee, I'd like to make something  that -- that follows on what the work of Gonzalez represented. There were  also at least one smaller constructed sculpture of Gonzalez in that  exhibition. And like I say, there was this group of British sculptors who  had already begun to work with metal and I saw their work and it  just led me in that direction. >> JORDAN CARTER: That's so fantastic.  And I know you started in small  scale and we'll see some of those  soldered wire pieces which are actually  on view in the exhibition in our  collection galleries a little bit later in in the conversation -- if we go to the  next slide it wasn't too long after seeing that exhibition in '53, not  even 20 years later in 1971 that your  own solo exhibition would travel from  the Museum of Modern Art to the Art Institute. And I would be curious to  hear, you know, about the impact of that exhibition, you know, a little bit  how it came together and what it meant for you at that time. And you know,  just what sort of happened in those interim years that led up to  such a momentous occasion.

>> RICHARD HUNT: Yes, well, so in  those years I went from, like I say, soldering, you know, these smaller  wire figures to -- to then, you know, getting on to some welding torch,  welding, cutting torches and all that. And one of the things that was -- you  know -- a lucky thing for me is that  I was living at home. My parents  lived in the Englewood area -- well, we lived in the Englewood area.  And in the -- in the -- so I was  able to set up a studio in the basement  of our house where I -- with my oxy-acetylene torch, started making some  of the pieces that are in the slides that you see here. Just a moment ago there  was a slide of me in a -- in a junk yard. And one of the things too is  that period, you know, '50s, '60s, was the age of the chromed bumper  in automobiles. And a lot of the elements -- well, in that earlier  picture, there I was sort of, you know, moving around through one of  these scrap yards that had these chrome bumpers. And one of the things  about it at that time, you know, people were driving around their cars  and maybe they would get hit on the right or on the left. And bumper got dented. You know, one could get a new bumper.  More often it led to a whole other kind of process -- there were a  a lot of people then, you know, supplying automobile parts who would  get these bumpers that generally would be, you know, cars with -- have a bump  on the right or the left, they would cut the bumper in half and you get  enough of those cut in half, and someone -- some parts would be on the  right, some on the left. And so you see me in this picture going through  and you know, getting the bumpers that were smashed on whatever side they  were smashed on. Which were then the things I took to the studio, cut into  with my oxy-acetylene torch, develop  them in a way that I could make the sculptures  that you just saw in that exhibition.

>> JORDAN CARTER: And I think,  Richard, I think we have a prime example of one of these pieces  incorporating bumpers and various automobile parts currently installed  on our Grand Staircase here at the Art Institute. And that was really how it  all began. And I'll turn it over to Ann to speak a little bit about how  that work sort of got the pride of place it deserves. >> ANN GOLDSTEIN:  Thanks so much. This was a  journey that started about four  years ago. One day I was walking up the Grand Staircase and if you go  to the next slide, you'll see on the  left the work by Maillol, which had  been there for decades. And I felt  that it -- there could be an opportunity  for us to have a change there and  a different handshake to the Art  Institute. So I had with the support of  James Rondeau, he said what would  you put there? And I went to the  collection and it was almost  immediately that I turned to Richard's "Hero Construction," which as we know  was -- was made in 1958 and acquired  by the museum that year. It is --  it just is a work that -- and then I  reached out to Richard and asked him  if -- if he was comfortable with us  citing it there. Jordan had -- I was  still fairly new, having been at the  museum for an about a year, and Jordan  had just started. And we invited  Richard over to look at this space.  And he -- he worked with us very  thoughtfully to site it. Every little  detail of the pedestal and so on.  You can also see that when we first  installed it, Daniel Buren's sculpture  for the stairs, "Up and Down, In  and Out, Step by Step," was also  installed. You can see how we shifted  from the Maillol, to the work of  Richard. As Jordan said this is a work  that's made with automobile parts,  I think mufflers in particular.  And I just wanted to turn it to Richard if you could say a few  words, because also you had an amazing story about your experience of the  Maillol, and a little history there as well with a connection  with one of your teachers. >> RICHARD HUNT: Yes. Well, it -- it  just so happened that my teacher -- well, I -- my first sculpture teacher  was a woman named Nelly Barr. And  she and her husband, Paul Begard,  who was chairman of the painting  department during the time I was at  the Art Institute -- but anyway, they had...been at the Bauhaus and where  he had studied with Paul Klee, and anyway, they had gone to Paris and  she had worked in my old studio, Nelly Barr, had. And so -- well, you know,  and of course it was interesting to me, you know, to think about, you know,  the fact that you -- my teacher had been in my old class -- in the studio,  rather. And that, you know, there I was kind of replacing Maillol, and I'm  sorry if my sculpture teacher Nelly Barr, not around to see this. She'd  be delighted. But anyway, you know, it  was interesting, just aside, that she  she had been working for Maillol,  in his studio during the time they  were in Paris before -- during the  second world war. The Germans came  in -- she was -- her husband was  German, but was not Jewish. But  she was Jewish. But anyway, they fled and ended up in Chicago. And of  course, then you know, like I say, he was the chairman of the painting  department at the School of the Art Institute. And Nelly was in  the sculpture department. >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: Thanks, Richard.  It's amazing. And also just for all  of us who work in museums to remind  ourselves how artists use museum, and  how I know you know this collection  so deeply. And just having followed  the programs of this museum for years,  it's truly an honor and so important  for us. I want to just go to the next  slide and then I'm going to turn it  back over to Jordan, but as we can  see here, this is a much more recent  shot of "Hero Construction." And I  just, again want to say it's -- it's --  it really owns that space. And it is  so beautifully -- the first work of  art that people see when they walk into  the museum from the Michigan Avenue entrance. And we couldn't be more  honored. So thank you. And I'm going to turn it back over to Jordan. >>  JORDAN CARTER: Yes. So after "Hero Construction" sort of made its return  to the Art Institute on view here  where it should -- shall remain, we  continue the conversation. And it was  an opportunity to begin thinking about  how we might collaborate further.

And in the next slide we can see that  there's you know, a wealth of Richard

wealth of riches inside of Richard's  studio. And it led to numerous  studio visits and numerous discoveries  and dialogues that sort of led to  the invitation to have Richard have  an exhibition on our Bluhm Family Terrace. But, seeing these images of  the studio, I think it would be so  amazing for you, Richard, to  give the audience a little context how you came to occupy this  former electrical substation I believe built in 1909, and you've been  occupying it since around 1970, '71, around the time of your solo  exhibition at the Art Institute. I'd be curious to learn how you came to  occupy this marvelous and epic space and what impact it's had on your  practice and what it's allowed to you do that might not otherwise have been possible. >> RICHARD HUNT: Well, it -- it --  it's interesting small world stuff.  What -- and one thing I'd like to  say, with regard to, you know, my  sculpture that was purchased -- you  know, the sculpture that was purchased that's on the landing, that was, you  know, Katharine Kuh was curator of modern art at the time, and she  prevailed upon -- one of the board members, a person very much involved  with collecting art on his own and giving to the Art Institute. That was  a guy named around Arnold Maremont.   Who among other things owned a muffler  company. And so it -- it wasn't very hard for Katharine Kuh, to say  there's a sculpture I would like to get   made out of mufflers, and so the  Maremonts purchased the sculpture as a gift to the Art Institute. Okay.   But again -- okay. Then there's another person very much involved with the Art  Institute, who -- who was a lawyer,  real estate developer, et cetera,  Ruttenberg. Of course there is a Ruttenberg gallery downstairs. And...so  I can say he was a lawyer and --  but also a real estate developer.  And he had found some buildings in my general area, you know, where he either  rehabbed the building or developed  new buildings along with a partner  of his, a guy named Citerra. But  anyway, he -- this building was sold  in a surplus property by the Chicago  Transit Authority. They built a new  one under the elevated tracks around  the corner from me. And built a new  electrical substation just underneath  the railroad tracks, it tucks in  there, about the size of a five-car  garage. Which shows the difference  between how one can convert electricity  in, you know, 2015, or something.  Anyway. From the old days then from --  you know, in 1909. So anyway, but  Ruttenberg said you know, we got this building, but we don't want to tear  it down and build some townhouses or  apartment buildings. I think  it would make a great studio. And he took me to see it. And I  said, gee, indeed it would. You know? And anyway, we made a deal, and so  here it is, instead of having these generators to turn the AC into  DC, there's all this stuff of mine scattered all over. What --  what -- and again, another serendipitous thing was that these  rails, like you can see in this picture, along the window wall, where  a crane can go north and south and  move east and west, so that, you  know, these larger things can be moved  with the help of this crane. So I  mean, it -- it turned out to be just a  great stroke of luck for me that you  know, I knew somebody who...you know,  wanted to sell me this building and  and here I am all these years later  with it full of metal. And by  the way, you know, there's this piece kind of in the center of this  image on the floor, but it was work on the "Scholars Rock" in progress,  when this picture was taken.

>> JORDAN CARTER: Exactly. And that's  a really great segue because in the next slide I -- I -- in the next -- I  was hoping to maybe talk a little bit about "Scholar's Rock" in particular.  That gives the exhibition its title. We really sort of centered on this  work as it was in progress during our conversations in studio visits. And  in many ways it's so emblematic of your process, the way you took this  scrap bronze, grave it a new life and it's something you worked on for  years, since about 2014 I believe.   >> RICHARD HUNT: Right. >>  JORDAN CARTER: And I wanted you to maybe talk about, the title,  I think it's one of your longest and what it means and what is your  creative process in making this piece. >> RICHARD HUNT: Well, yeah, it is  the longest title and it's a piece  probably worked on longer than any other piece.

So -- and the title incorporates  several things that kind of came to mind  as I began working on it. I mean, like  so -- I get metal from these metal  sources, you know, companies who either  roll the metal or -- or stock metal  of one kind or another. And I got  to know...some people at these metal  working sales places, and -- and you  know, they said what do you do with  this bronze and stuff like that.  Oh, I make sculpture out of it. Anyway, you know, over time I said,  you know -- the guy who ordered metal from, you know, some pictures of  things. And then he saw the shapes of  some of these metals. And he said,  well, you know, instead of just --  well, I mean I buy mostly sheets of  metal. But it turns out that -- that  some of the forms of the metal in "Scholar's Rock"   are -- came to me sort of preformed because in the   rolling process something happened with the rolling and -- and the metal got sort of   pushed up, you know. And so there are these shapes that are   sort of fluid, I'd call them. But which would  have been, you know, melted back  down and rolled into flat sheet. But anyway, having this opportunity  to have purchased these -- these crumpled, somewhat crumpled pieces,  I had the opportunity to develop them into this sculpture. And not  long before I started working on this sculpture, I -- I had been to  China and saw some of these Scholar's Rocks, you know, Scholar's Rocks  that they place in gardens, whatnot.

And...and well, I mean not that this  sculpture is like a Scholar's Rock exactly, but it gave me some ideas  about shaping, forming, some of the metal. And then I had the opportunity  of having this metal that was  deformed in a way that reminded me  of the parts of the Scholar's Rock.   And and then the "Stone of Hope," that came from a   speech of Martin Luther King, "Stone of Hope."   And then of course the "Love of Bronze," that's just me loving to work with bronze. >> JORDAN CARTER: That's beautiful.  And indeed you do love it because  you've been working on this piece for  a very long time. And I am going to  turn it over to Ann to talk about  how we got this piece from the studio  into -- onto the terrace, rather.  >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: Yeah, we can go to the next slide. And yeah, as you can  see, Richard working on the piece,  you can see him on the right. And  he was working on the work I think  literally probably as it was going  out the door. And -- and it's also my  understanding, Richard, that you feel  like you still need to do a little  bit more work after the exhibition.  And it's going to come back to the  studio. So that's -- >> RICHARD  HUNT: Yeah. Yeah. I just sort of top it off you might say. Yeah. (Chuckling) >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: Fantastic. We can go to the next slide. We want to  take people to the museum and you can actually see this stunning moment of  the arrival of "Scholar's Rock and  Stone of Hope or Love of Bronze" to  the Bluhm Family Terrace. And as a  kind of capstone of eight sculptures  that are installed in that space.

We can go to the next. And it  was an amazing experience to envision the installation of these  works, particularly during a pandemic when we were all working remotely,  we worked through sketch-up, we did a  lot of -- of preparations in advance.  But we also had the opportunity to  make little adjustments on the site.  You can see as it's being laid down,  it's actually on dollies and so we  could rotate it around and -- you know,  it was heavy and formidable, as these  sculptures are, we were able to kind of play and -- play with them and  finesse them precisely into their -- their spaces. We can go to the next slide. And I would say that the joy of this  for us was that Richard was there for every moment and involved in every  selection. Not all artists are, you know, as involved in installation.  And Richard was -- was on there -- was  up there with us at every point.  So we can see the installation proceeding. And next slide. And this beautiful vista was really  what we were imagining when we were doing all of this through -- you  know, kind of virtual installation in sketch-up, this kind of two-part  installation with the platform in the foreground. And this is where -- where  the camera is positioned is really where we kind of envisioned the kind  of sweet spot of viewing. And so we  see this kind of preliminary plat --  low platform with five sculptures on  it as a kind of landscape. And then  proceed beyond that. And you can go  to the next slide. To the three  large-scale sculptures. It was -- you  know, we all were so excited to -- to  look and to see the works, you know,  as much you can envision them, you  never, ever can really see it until  you're actually on the spot and -- and  we always envision the skyline, but  I think what was unexpected, especially  with the stainless steel sculptures was the incredible dialogue with  Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. So, it was a beautiful  process that was so complex and  just had a kind of lightness and  and everything found its place.

So I'm going to turn it back to Jordan.  >> JORDAN CARTER: Yeah. And from this image I just want to focus in a  second on the piece on the left called "Planar and Tubular." Indeed it  does sort of bring together the  curvilinear and also the hard edge.  It was another work that we noticed  that Richard was really working on  over an extended period of time and it  sort of transformed over the course  of our collaboration up until even on  the terrace. So on the next slide,  and then the next, we can sort of see  on the left how, you know, in the  studio -- we kind of thought the piece  was already gorgeous and finished  but then we saw over time how it  developed this wing of sorts. And  then as he said before, he sort of  topped off the top of it with a whole  new sort of spiralling construction.  And on the next slide...we can see  that Richard was simply not done there.  He was ascending ladders on the terrace  in a very, performatively almost,   bringing a finish to this piece,  polishing it and so on. I thought maybe  Richard you could say a few words about  the process and how this process unfolded. >> RICHARD HUNT: Well, yes. So I  yeah, I was glad to have the opportunity to -- to exhibit it, you  know, and again, it had been a piece I had started on and -- and you know,  taken time off to -- to do other things. I spent, you know, more time  than like on the "Scholar's Rock" and -- and -- well, and some other  commissioned things. But then when -- when you and Ann expressed interest  in it, I said, well I want to top it off with something. You know, and  to -- you know, like the one curving  tubular thing that I'm doing a little  sanding on, you know, surface work,  you know, I wanted then something  else to go beyond that. You know. So  that there's a sense of -- of...   Well, the word -- you know, sense of the piece, you know, moving ever upward.   You know, from one stage to another. And so I -- the fact that I was able to,   you know, put the top-most piece on in time to have it in the show. Yeah. >> JORDAN CARTER: Just barely, but  we would have given you all the time  you needed. >> RICHARD HUNT: Right.

>> JORDAN CARTER: Thinking about that  going upward and ascending upward, I wanted to briefly talk about the next slide.   We have this platform but sort of more human-scale bronzes.   If you go to the next slide. I wanted to briefly talk about a piece "Out   and Further Out," which is a generous loan from the Joyner/Giuffrida collection.   Because instead of going up and up, this one goes out and out horizontally   and you've spoken about how you sort of go from the vertical to the   horizontal and what that means to you. So I thought maybe we could talk about   that a bit. And you can go to the next slide, Devin. >> RICHARD HUNT:   Well, yeah. It -- it got to be -- well, I mean, at a certain point,   yeah, I decided I -- you know -- wanted to -- you know, instead of having things   go up -- go outward and -- and this is kind of the first piece,   you know, where I've employed that, you know, horizontal   extension, kind of idea.  And as a matter of fact, I'm working now on, you know, piece that  have gone in this direction as well.  But -- but this is the first one where  I experimented with the extension,  the horizontality as opposed to the verticality. >> JORDAN CARTER: And that's super  beautiful. I think Ann and I like to call it your odalisque. (Chuckling)  It has that affect to it. And so I just want to transition  inside for a bit. Inside of the museum.  And so this is a bit of a story here.  I'll be brief as I want to make sure we get to questions. But you know,  most of our exhibitions on the terrace usually, you know, we were talking  about having some smaller works and  maquettes inside of the restaurant.  But due to COVID of course the  restaurant was closed. Which actually  at first seemed like a compromise  situation but we definitely turned it  into an opportunity and were able to  give your work an expanded footprint  and definitely exhibit some larger  works as well that we night not have  been able to do otherwise and also  keep that amazing backdrop of the  city skyline and the Frank Gehry  pavilion. But here we can see on he  left we have a selection of your works  from the 1960s and early 70s. And on  the right a selection of maquettes for sculptures you've realized in  Chicago and the vicinity. I want to go to the next slide to give people  another sense of that space. And then on  the next slide maybe focus in for a  second on "Wing Ring Hybrid," just to maybe talk about this notion of  hybridity in your work. And this is a  titling construction that you used  a lot, this idea of the hybrid. So I  was curious if you could talk a bit  about that. I mean we can go to the  next slide which actually has --  this hybrid is in some of your larger  hybrids as exhibited in your  exhibition here in 1971.

>> RICHARD HUNT: Well, yes. So  so yeah, the idea of a hybrid. You know, bringing things together to  create, you know, something that has 

well, I would say more than one  meaning, more than one interpretation. And you know -- well, as with plant  material or whatever. You know, the  idea, you know, that you use seeds  from one thing and another, and grow  something that has characteristics  that might contain both,   or...and so anyway, you know, I went   through I guess what you might call a hybrid period. In terms of titling things. And   of course these works that are -- are all,   you know, from that period, you  know, like maybe a 10-year period. Some casted in aluminum as -- as  the "Wing Ring Hybrid" and others in  bronze. And -- and it was -- actually,  after developing the welded metal  techniques that I had, I then, you  know, spent some time, you know, in this  case making things out of clay. And  sometimes out of wax. So it can be directly cast. Or the ones in clay  which would have molds made from them.  And then wax poured into them and  in the casting process taken over.

>> JORDAN CARTER: There's such beautiful  works and I love how they bridge the organic and industrial and  really have this sense of biomorphic  abstraction. It really speaks to the  time, but yet they're so enduringly contemporary in terms of you know  post-minimal work at the time and also  just how fresh and amazing they are  being discovered in your studio and  being brought into the gallery  space, just simply fantastic. In the next slide I wanted to focus  on this particular maquette which we  have on view because the piece that  represents in smaller scale here was actually just recently realized. And  it's the "The Light of Truth," Ida B. Wells National Monument in Bronzeville.  I was hoping you could talk about what it meant to engage the figure  Ida B. Wells to make a national monument for this amazing civil rights  icon and how you came to this shape and form. And it's so impressive and  magnificent I think we would all love to hear you speak a bit more about it.

>> RICHARD HUNT: Well, I'm happy to  speak about it, it -- it was a work  that was a long time in coming.  I was asked by, you know, Ida B. Wells' commemorative committee to --  you know, if I would think about doing a piece. And as a matter of fact,  you know, I had come up with several ideas over a period of time. Now,  there was -- well, the extended period of time had to do with several things.  Well, the -- being able to raise  the money for it, and...and the way  there was this public housing in  this area called the Ida B. Wells   Homes. And -- and those were torn down well, you know, this goes back now   14 years. So you know, when the public housing was torn down,   and the whole area redeveloped, some is park land, some -- you know, sold  and other kind of housing from -- you know, from sort of single family  homes to apartment buildings. And her   house is now a landmark. It's on the  south -- on the West Side of Martin   Luther King Drive. But anyway, this  piece which is in the park that goes north and south through, you know,   what would have been that property -- well, gave me the opportunity to place   this thing in the center of this park. And interestingly,   one of Ida B. Wells' grandsons was a structural engineer who worked for Skidmore,   Owings and Merrill. And he was one of the people who helped me, you know, develop   ways of placing pieces, you know, in some of the work I   did. Actually the first -- being this piece called "Play", which is out at this Illinois State   Hospital, and he was like I say, a structural engineer   at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill -- but anyway. And it's unfortunate that   both he and his brother, who was a community activist, they -- they   didn't live to see this. But the great granddaughter, the son of the guy who was   the activist, was there and her her two brothers. But   anyway, it was something that was finally realized and in a piece that has,   you know -- so it is what it is as a sculpture, and then -- and then on the three   stanchions that hold up the sculpture form,   there are engraved panels with  pictures of her at an early  and then later age and some of her  quotations. And it's turned out I think  to be a good -- it works well in the  space and...so far it's attracted fair  amount of attention and -- and  interest, not only from people in the  community, but elsewhere. >>  JORDAN CARTER: Well, it's simply magnificent. It was an honor to be  at the unveiling and I'd encourage  everyone on the call if you have not seen it to   get down to Bronzeville and see this truly epic sculpture   and this monument to Ida B. Wells. It's just it's just simply breath-taking. >> RICHARD HUNT: It's about 30 feet tall.

>> JORDAN CARTER: It's magnificent.  And I guess with that I'd want to pass  it over to Ann to take us back in time,  back to when you were a student and  to our modern collection galleries on  the third floor of the Modern Wing to  talk about the soldered wire pieces that  we mentioned at the beginning of the talk. >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: Thanks, Jordan.  And yeah, indeed, everybody should  really take the opportunity to see the  Ida B. Wells Monument. It's such an extraordinary sculpture. I just  wanted to quickly point out the third  section of our exhibition before we  turn it over, hopefully, to some --  some questions. But as Jordan  said, we kind of make a full circle here to the beginning of  Richard's career when we go to the third floor of the Modern Wing and  our modern galleries, when we had the delight and -- and kind of warm  welcome of our curator of modern and  contemporary art, Caitlin Haskell,  to collaborate on locating three  sculptures by Richard from the -- the  this period of the early to mid  1950s when he was still a student  and working in his parents' basement  making these soldered wire sculptures.  You can see they've actually --  they've lived in two places during  the course of the exhibition. On the  left you can see they were in a space  with works by Giacometti, Picasso, and Dubuffet. And in the next slide,  you can see where they currently are  and visit them, in a space with  Richard Pousette-Dart, Norman Lewis and  Jackson Pollock. So we are thrilled  to have them and amazingly, it came to our knowledge that -- on  the third floor at the Modern Wing,  this is the first time a work of a  living artist has been included in those galleries. It enlivens the space  and creates beautiful and dynamic dialogues between the works and we're  just so thrilled to live with them.  So that I think concludes our  presentation. We just wanted to open it up to some questions and -- and  turn to this beautiful picture that's  our favorite of Richard standing with  his sculptures on the Bluhm Family Terrace. And I'm going to turn it back  over to Jordan who's going to help  us with the questions that have  been submitted by all of you. >> JORDAN CARTER: Yes, I hope we can  get through a couple of questions.

There's so many amazing questions,  Richard from a very engaged audience so let's start. The first question we  have here is what was your earliest  memory of art? >> RICHARD HUNT:  My earliest memory of art. That is to say of seeing it, like  going to the Art Institute or something like that? >> JORDAN CARTER: I -- your interpretation. You know, your  earliest experience or memory. >> RICHARD HUNT: Well -- well, I mean  well, I mean I guess two answers.  I mean, well, the experience of art  is from a time I was a kid I had, you know, crayons and paper and was making  you know, drawing and stuff. But then my -- my parents in particular,  my mother was -- one of the things she did with my sister and I was going  to the museums. The Art Institute,  the Field Museum, the Planetarium  and all that. I mean I can't say I  remember exactly how old I was when  I went there. But I was a kid. Yeah.

And so -- so there was this  early introduction to art. And of course not to mention the  fact that, you know, there's the Art Institute, but there's a lot of art  in the Field Museum, like from Africa  and one place and another. And of  course all of that was of interest. >> JORDAN CARTER: That's amazing.  And of course, there are are those influences there. And we  have another question here which is really quite interesting in  relationship to really seeing how the sculptures on the terrace have changed  over time and the patina, and how  that's shifted and you've really  sort of embraced that indeterminate  process of showing the work in  different contexts over time.

The question is how are the sculptures  maintained over time to keep the chrome so smooth and shiny even  though they are outside for decades? I guess it's a question about duration  and relationship to patina, and  conservation of the work. >>  RICHARD HUNT: Right. Well, you know,  there are -- with the different metals,  there are different possibilities.  You know, okay, the -- you know, I've  done pieces in aluminum and stainless  steel. Well, they tend to stay that  way. You know, however -- you know,  if you -- sanding, polishing, they'll  stay that way. The bronzes, you know,  they tend to develop a patina.  And -- and if -- if you want shiny bronze, that's something you have to  maintain, either you might coat it, you know, with something or wax it.  You know, time and again. But you know, bronze, while the -- it lasts  forever, given, you know, just being outside, will make it turn green  like the lions in front of the Art Institute. So you know, it depends.  I mean like there are people who have pieces of mine in their gardens or  whatever, or on the -- you know, outside a public building, whatever.  You know, it has something to do with, you know, their sense of  what they want it to look like. You know, and -- and   they maintain it, you know, or -- or let it turn green. You know, like say depending on their   feeling about what it should look like and whatever context they placed it. >> JORDAN CARTER: That's amazing. And  I'd love your openness to you know,  the various ways that the metal can  transform and really working with the  material and sort of the environment  in that way. And that's kind of a good  segue to another question, which is  sort of about these two branches of  your activity, the gallery, sculpture,  and then the outdoor sculptures and commissions. And the question is how  does your work shift when they exist beyond an institutional space, say the  Art Institute, how does that shift?  >> RICHARD HUNT: Say that  again. How does the work -- >> JORDAN CARTER: Your work shift or  your practice, or I guess the way in which you sort of perceive the work,   or how you sort of make the work or how you -- >> RICHARD HUNT: Right.

>> JORDAN CARTER: -- differ between  sort of a museum space and say an outdoor space or a commission. >>  RICHARD HUNT: Well -- well, you know, the -- well, for the most part  has to do with the scale of things. I mean, things that are commissioned  that will be outdoors in a, you know,  park or -- or -- or something like  that. And the pieces, whether in a  museum, or in somebody's home or in an  office, you know, the scale of them,  you know, basically determines -- and  of course there are pieces -- I mean,  it's, you know, large scale commission  pieces, you know, have -- have a  different sort of path, you might  say. You know, somebody -- you know,  somebody expresses an interest in a  piece that will go somewhere, on a  wall, in a plaza, or whatever. And  I develop through scale, sketches, scale models, some conference maybe  with the people who are commissioning it is one of the things. But then --  but then there are these works I do that are just self initiated and  developed. And I mean, you know, some may end up -- you know, like, you know,  purchased by individuals, families, whatever. And others by museums. I  mean, and -- you know, and very seldom have there been times when a museum  might, you know, want to commission -- commission a particular piece for --  for a museum. I mean, that's happened sometime, but -- but more often  they're pieces that either curators or  people involved with the museum might  say oh, this piece ought to be here.  You know, it's in a gallery or  whatever. So those are two differences.  >> JORDAN CARTER: Thank you for sort  of speaking on your experiences with  those different platforms or modalities  of engagement. I guess to wrap  things up there's a question we'd all  love to hear more about as we end the  conversation, which is, Richard,  what are you working on right now? (Laughter) >> RICHARD HUNT: Well...I'm  I'm working on -- well, pieces   to exhibit now. You know, I mean,  like I've been -- well, there's one piece I'm -- there's one commission  I'm working on which I'll deliver in  about a month, which is for a financial  a -- Lutheran financial services  organization called Thrivent, in  Minneapolis. And it will go out in front  of a building that they just built  last year. And that went through that  process of models and one thing and  another. And all. But -- but right  now in the studio I am working on  pieces -- well, that I'll exhibit in a  gallery maybe in -- in the spring,  I think. It will take me that long to get a few pieces together  that -- that I might put into an exhibition. >> JORDAN CARTER: That's  so fantastic. And I just want to  thank you, Richard, and thank the  audience so much for being here. And it's just -- I can't say how much  you know, it's just been a true honor  to collaborate with you. And it's  really been a true collaboration all the  way through. And I just really am just  so honored to be able to celebrate  you. And I want to encourage everyone  to please visit the exhibition in  its final weeks. Closing at the Art  Institute on September 20th "Richard Hunt: Scholar's Rock, Stone of Hope  or Love of Bronze." And I'll pass it  over to Ann for closing remarks.  >> ANN GOLDSTEIN: I just want to  express my deepest gratitude to you  also, Richard. It's just a joy to  listen to you. I know in a there were  many more questions that we could  answer. And I'm sorry for that. Thank  you everybody for submitting such  thoughtful questions. And I know we  could go on for a long time. So we  hope to have opportunities to continue  the discussions. And thank you all  for joining us. I'm going to just  turn us back to Courtney to close us  out. >> COURTNEY GRAHAM: Thank you  so much. And a huge thank you to Richard Hunt for joining us this  evening. And thank you Ann and Jordan for  sharing this discussion with us. The  exhibition, as Jordan mentioned, will  be on view through September 20th.  And for more information on upcoming virtual events, please visit us  online at ARTIC.edu; and look for our  monthly enews in your inboxes. We  look forward to seeing you again. Thanks everyone.

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