Inspirational Artists: Tony Hunt

Tony Hunt was born in 1942 at the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations community of Alert Bay, British Columbia as the oldest of three sons of Henry Hunt and his wife. Through his maternal line, Hunt is a hereditary chief of the Kwakwaka'wakw.

His father was a professional carver. Hunt andhis 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. 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.

Totem poles spring to mind when one thinks of Hunt's work but his paintings also have that British Columbia style.

Annie is a proud owner off a Hunt work 'Eagle and Rattlesnake' (left)

and one that shows off his talent of both imagination and skill given to her by Tony's friend since childhood Canadian Poet David Day.