Nationality Canadian Name Tony Hunt | Role Artist Known for Sculpture, Painting | |
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Born 1942 ( 1942 ) Alert Bay, B.C., Canada | ||
Tony hunt katouka
Tony Hunt (born 1942, Kwakwaka'wakw) is a Canadian First Nations artist noted for his paintings and carved totem poles. Each of the latter is carved in traditional fashion from a single cedar log.
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Early life
Tony Hunt was born in 1942 at the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Alert Bay, British Columbia as the oldest of three sons of Henry Hunt and his wife. The youth received early training from his maternal grandfather Mungo Martin. Through his maternal line, Hunt is a hereditary chief of the Kwakwaka'wakw.
His father was a professional carver. Hunt and his brothers are also descendants of the renowned ethnologist George Hunt (Tlingit), who collected hundreds of Kwakiutl artifacts for an exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Career
After his grandfather Martin's death in 1962, Hunt became assistant carver to his father Henry Hunt at Thunderbird Park in Victoria, B.C. His younger brothers, Richard Hunt and Stanley C. Hunt, also became professional carvers. In 1970 Hunt opened the Arts of the Raven Gallery in Victoria.
In 1984 Tony Hunt was commissioned by Kraft, Inc. to carve a replacement totem pole, called Kwanusila (Thunderbird), for a Kwakiutl pole donated by James L. Kraft, industrialist, to the city of Chicago in 1929. It was installed at the waterfront of Lake Michigan. After decades in the public park, the pole had suffered weather deterioration and vandalism. With new appreciation for its historic and cultural value, the original pole was sent to the museum in British Columbia for preservation and study. Kwanusila is installed at the lakeside park.