ARTIST FEATURE
XWI XWI © KARVER EVERSON
K E A LY DON A LDSO N
CALVIN
HUNT
With keen eyes and outstretched wings, the Thunderbird is poised and ready to take off from the perch of the Killer whale’s tail. Orca balances with grace and power below. A proud chief, wearing the red cedar bark regalia of his ancestors, supports Orca and Thunderbird and stands on a Codfish base. This image of the Chief, carrying the weight of Killer whale and supernatural Thunderbird on his shoulders, is most striking. This pole, commissioned by Chief Norman Frank in 1988, celebrates his uncle Chief Andy Frank, a remarkable man and community leader who carried his culture, his people and the people of the Comox Valley on his shoulders. This beautiful, handcarved and painted Chief’s Pole was created by the internationally renowned Kwaguʼł artist Calvin Hunt. Hunt is a highly respected Northwest Coast Artist, teacher and inductee into the prestigious Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Since 1981, Hunt has worked out of The Copper Maker, his carving studio and
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RISING AGAIN gallery in Fort Rupert, at the northern end of Vancouver Island. He is a teacher, mentor, and cultural ambassador. Hunt has also undertaken prestigious national and international commissions from public and private institutions around the world for totem poles, masks and monumental sculptures. Hunt has made a remarkable cultural and artistic contribution to First Nation art. In the Comox Valley alone, Hunt replicated Mungo Martin’s iconic totem poles in Lewis Park, carved poles for Comox Airport, Comox Marine Park, Courtenay Elementary School, the Puntledge RV Campground and a canoe for the K'ómoks s Nation. Most recently, he was the lead carver for the two poles on the K'ómoks First Nation’s administration building that represent the four families of the nation. Calvin Hunt was born in 1956 and is the youngest son of Kwagu’l Hereditary Chief Thomas Hunt, and
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