Born in 1939, James Hunolt grew up in Berkeley, CA where his family was engaged in the textbook industry. Surrounded by scholars and students, he was swept up by the endless inquiries about life swirling in a university community. When brought to the threshold of death by a life-threatening illness at the age of 16, his consciousness was indelibly altered. His life’s focus became centered on a search for the essence of mankind’s place and purpose. Berkeley’s melting pot of ideas, theories, and spiritual paths offered a vibrant matrix of possibilities to explore and digest. 



In 1964, after completing his studies at the University of California, Hunolt departed on a summer’s journey to find a place to think, dream, and write. As chance and circumstance work in incomprehensible ways, his expedition reached its goal on his very first day. He stopped for coffee at a small inn on the coast of Big Sur, California, and overwhelmed by its beauty and sense of innate wildness, he realized it was perfect. So began a 25-year engagement with a breathtaking environment.

As he settled into a cabin and began writing, he also amplified his days with a night course in pottery, discovering that his hands could mold clay. Within a year he was captivated by the expansiveness of three-dimensional forms. In his vision ideas, emotions, philosophy, and spiritual concepts could be joined with form to elicit aspects of beauty in an expanding search for the spirit of mankind. He now had a negotiable medium: sculpture. 

Hunolt met master sculptor Gordon Newell and spent two years sharing a studio with him on Cannery Row. During this period he helped Newell carve the Haupt Fountains, two granite sculptures at the entrance to the Ellipse Circle that adjoins the White House. Throughout periods living on the coast, the high desert and in the Sierras, he has continued to create a continuous stream of works in stone, wood, bronze, and steel. 



He deals with one subject: mankind — alone and together, Warriors and Lovers. As Hunolt notes in his occasional journals: “Warriors [i.e., individuals under stress—mental, physical, or spiritual], and Lovers [two individuals together in a sensually shared consciousness] have one main thing in common—intensity. Possibly it is the intensity I am most interested in. And that I can discover a great abundance of intensity in Warriors and Lovers is what draws me to them.”



Amidst the discrepancies of the world, Hunolt daily asserts his faith in the future of mankind by transforming the visions of his mind into enduring sculptures that celebrate the human spirit.