Artist Selected for Monument

Photo Submitted

Bryan Massey Sr.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Public Art Oversight Committee announced its first public art project to be installed on the University of Arkansas campus – a monument to Silas Hunt, which will be created by artist Bryan Massey Sr.

This past fall, the Public Art Oversight Committee began seeking established professional artists to send qualifications and proposals for an outdoor monument. This is the first work of art commissioned by the committee, which met Friday, March 4, and selected Massey’s proposal.

“We are pleased to have selected Bryan Massey’s proposal for the Silas Hunt Memorial sculpture,” said Brad Choate, vice chancellor for University Advancement and chair of the Public Arts Oversight Committee. “It’s an exciting opportunity to visually enrich the campus with works of art that are accessible to the public and also honor the university’s heritage.”

On Friday, March 4, the university held an open house for the newly named Silas Hunt Memorial Room inside the Arkansas Union.

About Bryan Massey:

Bryan Winfred Massey Sr. is currently a professor of art at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway. He is primarily a stone carver working with a variety of stone including alabaster, soapstone, limestone, marble and granite. He also casts iron, bronze and aluminum as well as working in the fabrication of steel sculptures.

He was recently selected as one of 84 African American artists nationally for inclusion in a new book called Studios and Work Spaces of Black American Artists. His most recent work, The Jazz Player, was selected and presented to former President Bill Clinton for the celebration and commemoration of the fifth-year anniversary of the Clinton Library in Little Rock in November 2009. It is now located in the Little Rock Sculpture Garden. A native North Carolinian, he’s been living in Arkansas since 1988 with his wife of 26 years, Delphine. They have two daughters and one son. His work is exhibited internationally, nationally and regionally.

“I count it a great honor to be selected as the sculptor to do this memorial for two reasons. The first one is that to honor such a brave and courageous man such as Silas Hunt to fight the ‘Jim Crow’ system of his day and to stand up for what was right and what he and others in the state of Arkansas believe was their rights as citizens of this nation. The second one is to be of African American descent and as a sculptor to be blessed with the talent from Him up above to create such a monument of this courageous man. I was not aware of his story until I was notified about the search. I look forward to putting a positive light on this story because being from North Carolina, all I was aware of about Arkansas was the ‘Little Rock Nine and the Central High Crisis’ from 1957 and Gov. Faubus,” Massey said.