Artist called ambassador for the Northwest culture
VICTORIA — Tony Hunt Sr., a hereditary chief of the North Island Kwagiulth people, world-renowned artist, champion and ambassador of traditional Aboriginal knowledge, died Friday in hospital in Campbell River surrounded by loved ones. He was 75.
“He was such a big cultural person in our lives. This is a huge loss to our family,” said Hunt’s sister Leslie Dickie. “He lived the old knowledge. He was raised in the kind of ways you can only learn by reading about it now.”
Hunt designed and created hundreds of totem poles with his family. His work includes Thunderbird Park and the big house at the Royal B.C. Museum, the totem pole in Victoria Conference Centre, and the ceremonial big house in Fort Rupert, the largest in the Pacific Northwest.
He was named to the Order of B.C. in 2010 and received an honorary doctorate from Royal Roads University.
Dickie said Hunt died from deteriorating health that worsened over the past few months, following the death of his son Tony Hunt Jr. The younger Hunt, 55, was also a celebrated artist who struggled with an ongoing illness.
“He never recovered from losing his son,” Dickie said. “He was overwhelmed with grief.”
The elder Hunt has two other children, Debbie and Steven, as well as four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Hunt was born in Alert Bay, the first of 14 children, and spent his early childhood in his home village of Fort Rupert on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
He moved to Victoria when he was 10 years old with his parents Henry and Helen Hunt. His maternal grandfather, Mungo Martin, was the principal carver at the Royal B.C. Museum — charged with replicating and repairing works from along the coast as well as creating new ones.
Hunt’s father became Martin’s assistant and Hunt became his protégé, immersed in the technique and culture of traditional art.
“Mungo took Tony from an early age to train him in the traditional ways,” said John Livingston, who calls Hunt his teacher, mentor and longtime friend. “They were ambassadors of Northwest culture to the world.”