SSCAC’s Archives and Collections Manager LaMar R. Gayles Jr. will introduce visitors to different metalworkers who have worked throughout Chicago’s artistic landscape. Amongst these makers there will be special attention given to the work of famed, now ancestral artist Richard Howard Hunt (1935-2023) who made major contributions to the field of Black metalwork.

Presented as a lecture, this program will expose viewers to these histories and makers, while the second portion will invite viewers to touch and interact with a selection of metal objects from the Center’s collection. Some of the artists discussed in addition to Hunt will include Elizabeth Catlett, Ausbra Ford, Geraldine McCullough, and Ramon Price to name a few. This program will work to illustrate how Black artists in Chicago have contributed to the realm of metalworking. As time goes on we continually are losing the elders who have contributed to fields like metalworking and this program intends to create a space to honor these contributions and legacies!