KwaGulth artist Tony Hunt restoring landmark UVic totem pole

Companion totem poles Eagle on Decayed Pole and Raven Soaring, located in the southwestern section of the university quad, stand sentinel over UVic’s central campus green space. In 2009, an unknown person scaled Eagle on Decayed Pole and removed two eagle sculptures from the pole’s zenith. This summer KwaGulth artist and Hereditary Chief Tony Hunt (above) will be working in situ at UVic to reinstate the birds to the pole’s roost.Hunt worked closely with his father, Henry Hunt, to carve the poles as part of the Royal BC Museum Thunderbird Park carving program in the 1960s. The poles are of significant artistic, cultural and historical value to the university, various local communities and the province. During the restoration process, Hunt will be providing Robbyn Lanning (nursing) and Caroline Riedel (Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery) insights into the history of the poles as well as his artistic process, which they will share with Ring readers in a forthcoming article.