Memphis artist George Hunt was born in rural Louisiana, near Lake Charles, and his grandmother noted early in life that he had a special power to "see thangs." He spent his childhood in Texas and Arkansas, then attended college at the University of Arkansas on a football scholarship where he was encouraged to study art as a career. Mr. Hunt spent three decades teaching art education and coaching at George Washington Carver High School in Memphis before dedicating full time to painting. He now works in a studio overlooking world-famous Beale Street.

Ninety-nine percent of what George Hunt paints come from the Southern African-American experience, especially the folk tradition, civil rights movement, the mythic heroism of Black manhood and of course blues music and culture. His mother-in-law owned a jukejoint establishment in Helena, Arkansas called the Dreamland Cafe. There George listened to blues legends like Sonny Boy Williamson and watched the patrons dance, drink, eat catfish, court, sport and score. His experience has been steeped in the music and life passages of blues people.

HIGHLIGHTS

In 1996 George Hunt was commissioned to paint 24 portraits for Blues & Legends Hall of Fame Museum in Robinsonville, Mississippi. He also created the original painting for the large mural (28’ x 40’) on the exterior wall. George was selected because his deeply rooted history in blues combines with his bold, dramatic, artistic style to produce images that capture both the uniqueness of the individual and the essence of this colorful music. It was both an honor and a dream come true for George when he the completed the museum’s paintings in 1998.

George was selected as the featured artist for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum’s American Music Master’s annual conference in 1998 and again in 2000. The 1998 conference, Hellhound on My Trail: Robert Johnson and the Blues, utilized a George Hunt painting for the poster; and included a one-man show at the 9th Street Gallery in Cleveland.

In 1997 Mr. Hunt was commissioned to create an original painting commemorating the 40th anniversary of the "Little Rock Nine" at Central High School in Arkansas. The painting, which will ultimately hang in a museum being built to showcase this pivotal civil rights act, was hanging for four years in a conference room in the White House in Washington, D.C. Hillary Clinton wrote to George saying, "we are grateful that our visitors and staff have such a powerful image of hope and freedom to greet, inspire and inform them."

Famous Dave’s Barbeque in Minneapolis and Chicago commissioned George to produce 20 original paintings depicting a more contemporary vision of the blues. These images range from Stevie Ray Vaughan to the original Blues Brothers. That work led to another commission for Isaac Hayes’ Club in Memphis and one under development in Chicago.

George Hunt’s name and images have become synonymous with The Memphis In May Beale Street Music Festival. He has been selected each of the past 10 years to paint an original blues image for the festival poster. The posters sell out each year and have become valuable collectors items.

Mr. Hunt’s work has been exhibited in both individual and group shows nationally, and it is part of the permanent collections of museums as well private collectors such as Anthony Quinn and Eddie Murphy. Mr. Hunt’s knowledge of blues and the inspiration for his work come from his life experience steeped in the music, juke joints and back roads of the deep south. George Hunt is the blues.