Designing Medals for the World: An Artist's Responsibility to Their Culture and Aesthetic

Join us for Designing Medals for the World: An Artist's Responsibility to Their Culture and Aesthetic, a virtual presentation by Kwakwaka'wakw artist Corrine Hunt as she shares her artistic journey including designing the medals for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

To join this virtual event, please join via this Zoom link when the event begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 21.

About the Speaker

Corrine Hunt (also known by her Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw name, Nugwam Gelatleg’lees) is a renowned Indigenous artist, jeweler, carver, and designer from the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw and Tlingit Nations. Born in 1959 in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, she comes from the Raven Gwa’waina clan of Ts’akis and from the celebrated Hunt family of Northwest Coast artists.

Hunt’s artistic lineage includes prominent Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw artists such as Henry Hunt, Richard Hunt, Tony Hunt, and Stanley Hunt. Her uncle, jewelry engraver Norman Brotchie, introduced her to Northwest Coast design traditions and inspired her interest in jewelry making. She later studied Anthropology and Latin American Studies at Simon Fraser University.

Since the mid-1980s, Hunt has created contemporary works rooted in Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw and Tlingit visual language while pushing beyond traditional boundaries. Her practice includes engraved gold and silver jewelry, sculpture, carved stainless steel furnishings, totem poles, and public installations.

She became internationally recognized in 2009 when she co-designed the medals for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics alongside designer Omer Arbel. The medal designs incorporated the Orca and Raven, crest figures connected to her cultural heritage.

Hunt’s work often explores identity, resilience, cultural continuity, and the evolution of Northwest Coast formline aesthetics into contemporary life. She has also designed fashion pieces, architectural works, ceremonial objects, and has collaborated with Indigenous design companies.

In 2011, she received the Indspire Award for outstanding artistic achievement and mentorship of Indigenous youth.

This event is made possible with support from the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Native Art and Friends of Native Art.