Tom was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1964. His father, George Hunt, Sr. is from the village of Fort Rupert and his mother is from Campbell River.

Tom started carving when he was 13 years old. He apprenticed with his father, his brother George Jr., and his uncle, Calvin Hunt. Tom's family owns many high-ranking dances, and he participates in many family potlatches. He works primarily in wood. Tom not only carves pieces for ceremonial uses but also for educational purposes or sale to the contemporary market. He lives in Fort Rupert.

About this Tokwit (Tuxw'id) screen

In the late 1980's the Museum of Natural History in New York was planning an exhibition of Kwagulth (Kwakwaka'wakw) art from its collection. The focus of Chiefly Feasts would be ceremonial material. One of the objects found in the basement of the museum was an articulated Tokwit dance screen made of wood and canvas, which had greatly deteriorated. Several elders were consulted, and subsequently Calvin Hunt was commissioned to create a version of the dance screen.

At the same time, The Legacy Gallery in Seattle was planning a large exhibition of contemporary Northwest Coast ceremonial art called To Dance. In the summer of 1990, Mardonna Austin-McKillop visited Calvin's workshop in Fort Rupert and saw the partially completed screen. Calvin accepted a commission for a transformation mask and accompanying dance costume (now in the Portland Art Museum). His assistant on the screen, Tom Hunt, Calvin's nephew and an artist in his own right, spent the afternoon discussing the screen with Mardonna. It was, Tom thought, a really exciting work of art, almost magical, he said, and deserved be more than the basis for a copy. By the time Mardonna left Fort Rupert, Tom had agreed to create a Tokwit screen entirely of cedar.

Aside from his impeccable Hunt Heritage, Tom was in other ways an excellent choice for the project. He is a superb finisher, unfazed by mechanical detail, and much respected by Northwest Coast Indian artists for his skills. The object he created for To Dance is clearly based upon the Museum of Natural History's screen. It is also a wonderful thing in itself.

To Dance opened at the Legacy in November of 1990. Among the Kwagulth elders who came to Seattle for the exhibition was Emma Hunt, Tom's grandmother, and one of the last remaining members of the Tokwit society. Tokwits were women who physically operated the magic portions of a winter ceremony. They caused figures to rise from boxes and women to seem to give birth to frogs. In front of the opening night guests, Emma sang a Tokwit song. She then operated the screen with the help of Tom Hunt. The puppets danced and at the right moment, a spume of duck down burst from the whale's blowhole and gently wafted to the floor. The guests applauded.