Barb Hunt

Barb Hunt is a Canadian interdisciplinary textile artist based in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador.


In a November 2013 talk given for the Wendy Wersch Memorial Lecture Series at MAWA in Winnipeg, entitled We are all of us made by war...., Hunt described how her grandmothers made quilts and her mother taught her craft.[1]

Style and Influence

Hunts style can be described as domestic, yet rebellious. Each piece has turned classically domestic mediums into hard-hitting, thought-provoking works of art. Her Art focuses on war, the natural environment, mourning rituals (particularly those of Newfoundland), and most predominantly, her work concentrates on gender ideals, stereotypes, and traditional roles. Much of her influence comes from the textile traditions and cultural aspects of textiles from her home of Newfoundland. Many works also feature a form of juxtaposing contradicting elements, thoughts or cultural stereotypes. By using domestic materials to talk about issues that are far out of reach of the everyday ideal housewife, Hunt brings these issues into the everyday world and involves everybody in these issues.

Career

Hunt has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery[2] and at Exeter and Bath galleries in the UK.[3] Her work has been included in group exhibitions and biennials both national and international.[4] She has also completed residencies throughout Canada, as well as Paris[5] and Ireland.

A core focus of Hunt's practice has been the devastation of war.[6] and creating works from camouflage army uniforms.[2] Hunt's 2010 Land Mines series documented the proliferation of antipersonnel landmines through hand knitting replicas in various shades of pink yarn. The work draws on the history of knitting as caring for the body and the use of knitting to create bandages for soldiers. In this context knitting becomes a metaphor for recuperation, protection, and healing, creating a contrast between the materials and the destructive subject matter.[7] The work was included in the group exhibition, Museopathy, at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, Ontario, and later in a solo show named Antipersonnel at the Art Gallery of Ontario.[8] Her work included in the exhibition Unpacking the Living Room (pieces from two separate series titled Antipersonnel and Aprons) serves as a material protest against the use of antipersonnel landmines. As Hunt describes “I use these associations to contradict the abuse of power and the use of violence by transforming a destructive object into one that can do no harm.”[9]

In Toll, her 2011 solo show at The Rooms in St. John's, Newfoundland, she created large installations using camouflage fabric as a central theme and material.[2]

Hunt's Mourning series was a textile-based exploration of the relationships between death, mourning, gender and recuperation.[10]

Permanent collections
  • Central Museum of Textiles, Poland
  • Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Canada Council York Wilson Purchase Award, Kingston, ON Canada
  • Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON
  • Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland
  • Fondazione Benetton, Italy
  • Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, St. John’s, NL
  • Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON
  • Winnipeg Art Gallery.[11]

Bibliography
  • Susan Cahill, "The Elsewhere War: Art, Embodiment, and the Spaces of MilitaryEngagement," Journal of Canadian Studies, Spring 2018.
  • Black, Anthea and Nicole Burisch. "Craft Hard, Die Free: Radical Curatorial Strategies for Craft in Unruly Spaces." Maria Elena Buszek, ed. Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art. Durham,London: Duke University Press, 2011; and in Glenn Adamson, ed. The Craft Reader. New York: Berg, 2010.
  • Hunt, Barb. Resume. (2005)
  • McElroy , Gil. Built with a String: Barb Hunt and Knitting in Newfoundland and Labrador. Craft Year , 2007. Accessed February 2, 2020.
  • Perron, Mirielle. "The Art of Camouflage, A Female Touch: Exploring tactility in the work of Janice Wright Cheney, Barb Hunt and Sarah Maloney." Paula Gustafson, ed. Craft Perception and Practice 3. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2008.
  • Kirsty Robertson, "Capturing the Movement: Affect, Anti-War Art and Activism." Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism, Vol. 34, No. 6, Fall 2006, 27-30.
  • Magliaro, Joseph and Shu Hung, eds. By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006.
  • Wignall, Alice. “This Mortal Toil.” The Guardian. October 4, 2005.

References
  1. Mentoring Artists for Women's Art, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2015-06-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Johnson, Bruce (2010). Toll : Barb Hunt. St. John, Newfoundland & Labrador: The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery. ISBN 9780986745812.
  3. "Barb Hunt - artist: installation, textiles". www.barbhunt.com. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  4. Entertainment (2019-01-15). "First North Island College Artist Talk Series of 2019 features Barb Hunt". BC Local News. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  5. "International Residencies | The Canada Council for the Arts". canadacouncil.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  6. Hunt, Barb. (2001). Barb Hunt. Bradley, Jessica., Art Gallery of Ontario. [Toronto]: Art Gallery of Ontario. ISBN 1-894243-20-X. OCLC 57447287.
  7. Chaney, Candace (February 18, 2011). "Gallery Hop: Amid resurgence of knitting, artists explore yarn's possibilities". LexGo/kentucky.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  8. Art Gallery of Ontario, http://www.ago.net/barb-hunt
  9. "Unpacking The Living Room". www.unpackingthelivingroommsvu.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  10. Spence, Sheila (1999). "Critical Distance - Mourning: Barb Hunt". www.aceart.org. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  11. "Canadian Art | Winnipeg Art Gallery".
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