February 2000   Monumental artist Ed Hamilton "If I die today, I've no regrets." For sculptor Ed Hamilton, it has taken many years of hard work, worry and prayers to be able to say that. "There's always been some sort of circumstance along my life's path that, no matter what has happened, there's always been something like, can I say a guardian angel?" he said. It is a reflective moment for Hamilton as he flips through a slide show of his life's work inside his Shelby Street studio in Louisville. Scraps and models of his life's work are scattered throughout the narrow, drafty room. Click. The "Booker T. Washington Memorial." It is a picture of Hamilton working on his first major piece in 1983, a life-size statue of the famous Booker T. Washington that can now be found at Hampton University in Virginia. "I had a lot of hair then," he said with a laugh. "I needed more money in my bank account before I could get a haircut." Thanks to that commission, the struggling artist began to make a name for himself. He was able to go to the barber shop. Click. The "Joe Louis Memorial." Hamilton won the Detroit commission in 1983, immediately after the unveiling of "Booker T Washington." "If you've never done one, they don't know you exist," Hamilton remembered. "You're just kind of out there, and then when you do one, all of a sudden one begets another, begets another." Click. The "Amistad Memorial." It is a massive piece that tells the story of Joseph Cinque and his fight to return to his African homeland. The three-sided monument now sits in New Haven, Conn. Click. The "Spirit of Freedom." To date, this memorial to the thousands of black soldiers of the Civil War is Hamilton's crowning achievement. Unveiled in Washington D.C. in 1998, it propelled Hamilton into the national spotlight. " It was overwhelming," remembered former U.S. Congressman Ron Mazzoli, a friend of Hamilton. "(It was) just a powerful, powerful experience to see this statue." Louisville artist and friend, Ken Clay, remembered he had to keep the crowd off of Hamilton when the monument was unveiled in the nation's capitol. Clay recalled they had tears in their eyes while trying to shake the hand of the man who created such a fitting memorial for the forgotten heroes. "What he's done, particularly with the D.C. monument, is carve himself a place in art history," Clay predicted.