Chicago Sculpture Exhibit (CSE) Seeks Next Richard Hunt Awardee

2025-26 Richard Hunt Awardee D. Lamar Prestonn

A significant new opportunity for sculptors has officially launched. Chicago Sculpture Exhibit (CSE), in partnership with the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation, is accepting applications for the 2027 CSE Richard Hunt Award, honoring one of Chicago’s most influential and internationally acclaimed artists.

The award will support an emerging or mid-career sculptor in creating a new work for installation at a prominent Chicago location. The selected artist will receive $10,000 toward production, with CSE supporting installation and mounting costs. The completed sculpture will remain on public view for 24 months before returning to the artist.

The 2025-26 winner of the award, D. Lamar Preston, created Gifted to Me, work that currently stands at Hyde Park High School directly across from the Obama Presidential Center (OPC). Preston apprenticed with Hunt for two years prior to his passing.  

The call arrives at an important moment for Chicago public art and for the continuing legacy of Richard Hunt, whose monumental sculptures transformed public spaces across the country while establishing a powerful visual language rooted in abstraction, history, and possibility.

A distinguished Chicago-based jury will select the recipient, including Patricia Andrews-Keenan, Founder and CEO of Pigment International and founder of Black Fine Art Month; Vicki Heyman, co-founder of Uncharted LLC, Illinois Arts Council member and Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation Advisory Board member; and sculptor Geof Oppenheimer.

Key Dates:

• October 30, 2026, 5 p.m. — Applications due

• Mid-November 2026 — Jury selection and artist notification

• December 15, 2026 — Final drawings and plans due

• May 30, 2027 — Installation completed

For Chicago sculptors ready to imagine their work at a new scale—and in conversation with one of the city’s greatest artistic legacies—the call is now open.

Apply for the 2027 CSE Richard Hunt Award today.