Tony Hunt (artist)

Tony Hunt (born 1942) is a Canadian First Nations artist of Kwakwaka'wakw ancestry noted for his work carving totem poles.

He was born in 1942 at the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Alert Bay, British Columbia. He received early training from his maternal grandfather Mungo Martin. He is also a descendant of the renowned Native ethnologist George Hunt.

After Martin's death in 1962, Hunt became assistant carver to his father Henry Hunt at Thunderbird Park in Victoria, B.C. His brothers, Stanley Hunt and Richard Hunt, are also professional carvers. In 1984 he carved a replacement totem pole, called Kwanusila (Thunderbird), for one his ancestor George Hunt had made for the people of Chicago.

In 1970 he opened the Arts of the Raven Gallery in Victoria.

Sources

• Hunt, Ross (2007) "The Hunt Family's Trip to West Germany to Attend the Bundesgarten Show." Anthropology News, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 20–21.

• Macnair, Peter L., Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary (1984) The Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art. Vancouver, B.C.: Douglas & McIntyre.