CHICAGO SCULPTURE EXHIBIT MARKS 25 YEARS OF PUBLIC ART

Top row middle D. Lamar Preston and Patricia Andrews-Keenan. Right - Gwen Yen Chiu and D. Lamar Preston, past Richard Hunt Award winners, in conversation with Christie's Steven Zick. Bottom row - Gwen Yen Chiu, Steven Zick of Christies and D. Lamar Preston. Middle: a maquette of Preston's work Gifted to Me. Right - Sculptor Eric Stephenson and Naomi Davis, Blacks in Green.

Anniversary gala honored Richard Hunt Award winners at Theater on the Lake

Chicago Sculpture Exhibit (CSE) marked 25 years of bringing large-scale public art to Chicago neighborhoods with an anniversary gala at Theater on the Lake. The evening's centerpiece was a conversation between past Richard Hunt Award winners Gwen Yen Chiu (2021) and D. Lamar Preston (2025), moderated by Christie's specialist Steven Zick.

Preston's award-winning sculpture, "Gifted to Me," is on view at the northwest corner of Stony Island and 62nd Street in Woodlawn, directly across from the Obama Presidential Center. Preston apprenticed with sculptor Richard Hunt for two years before Hunt's passing in 2023 and said the work honors tools and materials Hunt gave him.

CSE was founded in 2001 by then-Alderman Vi Daley as a small Lincoln Park initiative; it has since grown to place an average of 50 sculptures a year in neighborhoods across the city. The Richard Hunt Award, established in partnership with the sculptor in 2021 and now in partnership with the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation, offers $10,000 to emerging or mid-career sculptors for new public work. Applications for the 2027 award are now open. Hunt's birthday was September 12th. Hear the WBEZ interview with vice chair of the foundation board Jon Ott here.

Maquettes of past winners' sculptures were available for purchase at the gala, with proceeds benefiting CSE.

2027 Richard Hunt Award applications now open

RICHARD HUNT AWARD APPLY HERE