Shirley Hunt

Country/Region: Northwest Coast (view other artists)

Tribe: Kwakwaka’wakw

Shirley Ford (b. 1943) is the eldest daughter of the late Chief Henry Hunt and Helen Hunt. She has made many button blankets over the past twenty years from designs made by her brothers' Tony and Richard and sometimes by her cousin Calvin, all renowned Kwakwaka'wakw artists.

SPECIAL AWARDS AND PROJECTS

1974 Shirley made two button blankets designed by Tony Hunt for the Hunt Family Memorial Potlatch held in Comox, BC in memory of her mother.

1981 Indian Arts and Crafts Annual Trade Show, First Prize.

1983 A blanket made by Shirley for her daughter was danced for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip when they visited the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

1988 Indian Arts and Crafts Annual Trade Show, Special Award.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1979 The Legacy, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC. Shirley made a blanket of Sisiutl design by Calvin Hunt for this travelling exhibition.

1986 Robes of Power, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Blanket of Sisiutl design by Richard Hunt.

1992 Chiefly Feasts, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. Blanket of Sisiutl design.

1993 Echoes of Chiefly Feasts: Masterworks by Eleven members of the Hunt Family, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC.

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

The Museum of Anthropology, Hamburg, W. Germany.
The National Museum of Man in Ottawa

VIEW SHORT BIOGRAPHY