Sam Richards' work infused his life and his life informed his work. When he was called on to write about his sculpture, his language was concise, but in the visual language of his art, his expression was abundant, eloquent, and richly elaborated. 

He began experimenting with steel as a student. At first he took a very deliberate approach, discovering what the medium could do and mastering its techniques. He grew to appreciate how quickly and directly he could create a form using steel, adding and subtracting material with ease. It suited his physicality, his temperament, and the pace of his ideas. With time, he fully exploited its versatility and the speed of production it allowed. Much later, he found a way to work with wood that was as spontaneous and direct as his work with steel.

Richards' improvisational approach enabled him to play with the relationships of a sculpture's parts to its entire structure. He investigated rhythm, counterpoint, and the nature of visual transitions. These connections gave context and meaning to disparate forms. He was equally inventive with the stance of his sculptures, their expression of gravity, weight, and gesture.

Using steel automatically linked him to the abstract sculpture developed in the early 20th century by Julio Gonzalez and Pablo Picasso. They pioneered the creative use of a material and process that had been the stuff of industry, not art. Sculptors David Smith, Anthony Caro, Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero and others expanded the genre. Richards' work continued that tradition.

His curiosity, interests, and experiences fed his art. He described his sculptures as "intuitive, organic abstractions," referencing landscape and the human body. Rather than representing what he saw, Richards' sculpture "distill[ed] ... various visual and emotional reactions to an environment." Forms remembered from childhood discoveries on the beach - ships’ hulls, old coins, horseshoe crabs - and the experience of new places, sparked changes in his work. He often sketched or took photos of what he observed. Fossil hunting along Indiana creek beds and scavenging remnants of industry in Louisville's scrap yards were as likely to yield new ideas as exploring an ancient Greek site or an Italian Baroque church. These ideas came to fruition in the studio.

Richards made most of his sculpture in his space at the University of Louisville. The serious example he set for students and his easy accessibility helped to build the sculpture program. Richards' work and the flow of students in and out of the studio generated constant activity. Sparks flew from arc welders, grinders screeched, hammers pounded, drills hummed, oxyacetylene torches whooshed, crackled, hissed, and sometimes popped – all over a radio blaring jazz, rock, classical music, or news. Materials accumulated in mountains everywhere. Amid this scene, Richards was focused on whatever he was making. Even as the demands of school and family increased, he remained prolific.

An artist's body of work shows the evolution of his thoughts; for Richards, the making of each individual piece carried him through its own revelations. He wrote, "As each work evolves... an emotional involvement, which was nonexistent at the beginning of the work process, develops and shapes the final image." This is as true of his early pieces as it is of his last works.