Yesterday I attended a special memorial honoring the life of American sculptor Richard Hunt, who passed away last December. I didn’t know much about Hunt, other than having walked past his local installations uncountable times.
My favorite is a work titled “And You, Seas.” Standing nearly 50 feet tall, it was installed in 2002 where the St. Joseph River empties into Lake Michigan at St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. Going out to the lake or returning to the river, it’s a welcoming sight.
Yesterday’s memorial featured his close friends sharing their personal memories. Little of it focused on the fact that he was the foremost African American sculptor from 1958 to the present. There were no lists of his accomplishments, his honorary degrees, or his installations. No mention that his life’s work was affected by attending murdered Emmit Till’s open-casket funeral at the age of 19.
There was, however, a theme from speaker to speaker on how kind and gentle this man was; how encouraging of others; how he could work a room but found the greatest solace in his Benton Harbor studio. How he believed in Benton Harbor as a community of opportunities.
I came home inspired and went to his website to learn more. It seems inspiration is what Richard Hunt did best after all.
Leave a Reply