1923-1985
Henry Hunt was born in 1923 in the Kwakwaka’wakw community of Fort Rupert, B.C. He was a descendant of the renowned ethnologist George Hunt. Hunt was originally a logger and fisherman but went to Victoria to help his father-in-law Mungo Martin at the British Columbia Provincial Museum in Victoria in 1954, where he remained until 1974. He succeeded Mungo Martin there as chief carver in 1962.He was the father of the artists Henry, Jr., Shirley Ford, Tony Hunt, Richard Hunt, and Stan Hunt.
Following Mungo Martin’s death in 1962, Hunt became the park’s Master Carver and worked with his son, Tony Hunt, as his chief assistant carver. Henry and Tony Hunt created a series of important works at the park, including an outstanding pole for the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo67 in Montreal. Perhaps their most significant work is the 32-foot (9.75m) memorial pole erected in 1970 at ‘Yalis (Alert Bay) in memory of Hunt’s mentor, Mungo Martin. When Henry Hunt resigned from the carving program in 1974, his son Richard Hunt became Master Carver.