"Red Snapper Headdress"
Richard Hunt, "Red Snapper Headdress," 2004, red cedar, 13" x 34" x 13".
RICHARD HUNT
BRITISH COLUMBIA: Mar 19-Apr 11, 2005, Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver
By Beverly Cramp
After more than two years working on a collection of traditional and contemporary pieces in mixed media, First Nations carver Richard Hunt is ready to show his latest work. Hunt comes from a long line of West Coast carvers that includes one of the most famous, his grandfather Martin Mungo. “I’m a traditional carver using different ideas,” says Hunt. “I’ve carved this flower blowing in the wind. The 15-inch body could be a stem and if you look closely, there are knees and, wrapped behind the back, arms. The top could be a sun with a face in the middle.” Hunt usually works in wood — “I love wood, that’s my forte,” he says — but he has been venturing into bronze and glass. These new materials will be evident in his show, which includes his more familiar wooden masks and headdresses as well as a work in glass. Hunt learned from his father, Henry Hunt. “I’m refining what he did,” he says. And although Hunt is moving on with his own ideas, he puns, “I’m a chip off the old block.”
Represented by: Spirit Wrestler Gallery, Vancouver; Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria.
