Henry Hunt

Henry Hunt (16 October 1923 – 13 March 1985) was a First Nations woodcarver and artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw (formerly "Kwakiutl") people of coastal British Columbia. He carved a number of totem poles which are on public display in Canada and internationally. Early life He was born in 1923 in the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Fort Rupert, B.C. He was a descendant of the renowned ethnologist George Hunt. In 1954 he moved to Victoria and became Martin's chief assistant in the Thunderbird Park carving program. Hunt was originally a logger and fishermen before he took up wood carving professionally. In 1939 he married Helen Martin, the adopted daughter of Kwakwaka'wakw artist Mungo Martin. Their children were the artists Henry, Jr., Shirley Ford, Tony Hunt, Richard Hunt, and Stanley C. Hunt. Career In 1954 Hunt went to work for his father-in-law in Victoria. Hunt took the post of Martin's chief assistant in the Thunderbird Park at the British Columbia Provincial Museum. At Thunderbird Park, Hunt studied traditional wood carving under Mungo Martin and Arthur Shaughnessy. He also worked in the museum's collections, helping to restore and preserve Aboriginal art. Mungo Martin died in 1962 and Hunt succeeded him as the park's Master Carver.