Northwest Coast Artists

Sean Hinton

Sean Hinton was born in Saskatoon, Saskachewan on the 13th of April 1969. His family is of Cherokee decent from Oklahoma. He lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia. In 1996 he began carving with Salish artist Rocky LaRock. In 1998 he met Nuchanuith carver Tom Patterson and began working with him. They did a carving demonstration together for the "Down From The Shimmering Skies" exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Sean then began working at the Coghlan Art Studio where he met Gene and Jay Brabant and Stan Hunt. He completed two 15 foot Haida totem poles with Jay during the summer of 2003.

Sean says that carving isn't a job for him, but has become a way of life. He loves to carve and learn about the traditions behind the masks. "Looking at a human face or an animal gives me ideas and inspiration for new pieces." He has become involved with the traditional life of the Salish people that live in his area.

Sean's work has developed quickly under the eye of his teachers. His work has been recognized in many galleries inthe United States and Canada. His latest work is currently shown at Tribal Spirit Gallery, where Sean recently contributed to a Kwaguilth pole raising ceremony with his bumble bee/shaman rattle.

Trevor Angus

Trevor Angus attended the Kitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Indian art at Ksan in Hazelton. His instructors were Master Carvers Vernon Stephens and Ken Mowatt. Angus completed the four year program in 1998 learning to design and carve wall carvings, ladles, panels, masks, rattles, paddles, and steam bent boxes.

“I am on a continuous journey of learning right to date. I am presently doing an apprenticeship under Phillip Janze for engraving gold and silver jewelery.

I have been very fortunate with having great teachers within reach throughout all of the years that I have been carving. I have had the opportunities as well to watch and learn from Master carvers like Earl Muldon and the late Walter Harris. I continue to meet and learn from different artists as well as my teachers from Ksan to this day. It is a long journey to becoming a Master Carver myself; a goal that I have held since I picked up my first set of tools.”

Trevor is currently living and carving full time in Vancouver. 

Tka'ast (Trevor Angus)

Stan Hunt

Stan Hunt is a Tsakis Kwagiulth artist from Fort Rupert on Vancouver Island. A member of one of the first families of Northwest Coast carving, Stan was born in 1954. His grandfather Mungo Martin and his father Henry Hunt worked at the Royal Museum of British Columbia reviving the art that had been prohibited by the Canadian Government for nearly 70 years. Stan's brothers Richard and Tony Sr. are well known carvers who mentored him early in his career.

Stan is a member of the Hamatsa society and dances in the potlatch ceremonies for the Hunt family. In 1976, he apprenticed himself to his father, who first required him to make his own carving tools. Over the next three years, he assisted his father on six totem poles. In 1980, he and his brother Richard Hunt restored a 65-foot pole that had been created by his father for the Montreal Expo in 1967. In the fall of 1998, Stan will return to work on the pole again.

Stan carved his first totem pole in 1982 ­ a commission by author Jean Auel (The Clan of the Cave Bear and continuing series). He is equally renowned for his miniature totems and masks, and has produced limited edition prints and bronzes. Stan's interpretation of the Kwagiulth style is starkly traditional. No power tolls or sandpaper are used. Only traditional tools ­ the adze, straight knife, and curved knife ­ are utilized. The images are original but with traditional roots in the stories of the Kwagiulth people.

Trevor Hunt

Born in 1975, is from the Fort Rupert area of the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The father of three children, Trevor comes from a long line of master carvers who have been instrumental in the survival of the Kwaguilth art form, including his father Stan Hunt, his uncles Eugene Hunt and Tony Hunt Jr. Trevor's Grandfather was Henry Hunt, and his great-grandfather, Mungo Martin (Chief NaKePenkem).

Trevor has been painting Kwaguilth myths and stories since he was 10 years old, and began carving under the tutelage of his father in 1997.