“Being creative is what makes us human. The greatest gift you can give someone else is the act of creativity,” said noted sculptor David Hess '82, who returned to campus on January 7, 2026, to present the second annual Francis “Boo” Smith '70 Memorial Lecture for the Arts in a conversation with Gilman Arts Department Chair Karl Connolly.

Growing up, art was all around him but never forced upon him. When a football injury in ninth grade freed up some afternoon time, Hess found his way to the art room where he logged countless hours with longtime Art Teacher Harvey Peterson and soon realized a new home. On matriculating to Dartmouth, however, he still planned to study medicine. After a few semesters and meaningful interactions with famed wood sculptor Fumio Yoshimura, it became clear that he needed to redirect his focus to visual studies. 

After Dartmouth, Hess wanted to go on to graduate school to study sculpture in earnest. Yoshimura disagreed. “You need to learn how to survive [as an artist],” the professor counseled his pupil. Hess has been a practicing artist ever since his graduation from Dartmouth in 1986.

Hess works mostly with found materials, which he refers to as “rescued objects” that are loaded with history and cultural narrative. His interests in science, engineering, and narrative filmmaking also inform his sculpture. Frequently, he explores a precarious balance of elements poised on the verge of movement but ultimately frozen in time. Much of his work inspires interactivity, whether that involves picking up a gun made of guitar pieces, sitting on a bench made of farm equipment, or climbing inside an enormous homophone.

His work ranges from smaller furniture pieces like coffee tables and bar stools to massive public installations like the beloved bird's nest that serves as a second-floor balcony at the American Visionary Arts Museum (AVAM). It was actually at the installation of a stairway at AVAM years earlier, as the museum was opening, that Hess realized his career was on the right path. 

Following his talk, excited students and faculty members joined Hess in the Gilman Room for cookies and more conversation. Questions centered around finding inspiration for public art installations, working in unfamiliar mediums, developing an emotional component in a work, 3D printing models, AI and art, the impact of his Gilman background on his career as an artist, and, of course, where he finds all of his rescued objects.

For more on Hess's work, visit hess.industries.

The Francis “Boo” Smith '70 Memorial Lecture for the Arts

Francis “Boo” Smith '70 was a beloved teacher, coach, and dean of students at Gilman for 26 years. He was a mentor to students and colleagues alike, and worked hard to inspire in the pupils of his art history class a lifelong appreciation for the arts.

When he passed away in October 2023, friends and classmates rallied to create a lecture series in his honor. The resulting Francis “Boo” Smith '70 Memorial Lecture for the Arts brings in prominent practitioners of the arts — visual, performing, and so forth — to share their experiences and learnings with Upper School students on an annual basis. 

Former Walters Art Museum Director Gary Vikan inaugurated the series in 2025.