Kwakwaka’ wakw, Tlingit 1942-

Cornett Building Walkways in Courtyard and Henry Hunt Totem Poles ca. 1966-80 Photographed by Jim Ryan Image courtesy of the University of Victoria Special Collections

Tony Hunt learned to carve from his father Henry, who was master carver at Thunderbird Park. In 1969, together with John Livingston, Tony opened Arts of the Raven Gallery located in Bastion Square. This venue influenced a revitalization of many traditional and emerging artforms and taught a generation of young Northwest Coast artists such as Calvin Hunt, Art Thompson and Don Yeomans. But to Hunt, the artistic activity of the 60s represented continuity and increase in profile, rather than a resurgence: “To say to [my grandfather Mungo Martin] there was a ‘revival’ or ‘renaissance’ would be ridiculous … There was no revival.”¹

¹Tony Hunt, Vancouver: Art and Artists 1931-1983, 1983

Box Design 1969
Serigraph on paper
32 x 61.5
Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Grant, Purchased from the Collection of Vincent Rickard