Skip to content
CSCL emblem
Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft
1950–2026
CSCL·The People·Biographies·Jean Hunter
Who’s Who in Leathercraft · Summer 1981

Jean Hunter

← Biographies · printed Summer 1981

This page is a biography of Jean Hunter. The Society’s own record of Jean Hunter — the offices held, the standings conferred and the awards won — is on the register page.

The Society's newsletter ran a column, "Who's Who in Leathercraft", profiling one member at a time. This is the profile of Jean Hunter, printed in Summer 1981 and transcribed here from the original.

Fellowship Award, Annual Meeting, 1981.

Jean has been a member of C.S.C.L. for fifteen years, and a practitioner in the craft of leatherwork for thirty-three years. In 1975 she attained Associate standing in the C.S.C.L. and this year has successfully completed her Fellowship.

Pen-and-ink sketches of nine leather pieces -- a floral cylinder case, a monogrammed handbag, a bracelet, a floral picture frame, a monogrammed cube-shaped bottle, a ring, a pendant, a briefcase and a shoulder bag -- with two names hand-lettered sideways in the margins, Fellow Carol McLean and Associate Jean Hunter.
The pieces are not individually captioned by maker. Carol McLean's Fellow standing and Jean Hunter's Associate standing were both reached in 1975. Summer 1975, p. 4.

Jean received instruction in the craft from Mrs. Isobel Joyce, Mrs. Jessie Little, Mr. Paul Williams, Mr. David Trotter, and Mr. Rex Lingwood, and also acknowledges learning from just about all the leathercrafters in the C.S.C.L.

As a craft teacher, Jean has taught night school leathercraft courses at Bramalea Secondary School, as well as accepting a number of private students of the art. She is well known for her many leathercraft demonstrations which have been appreciated by all of us.

The Executive Council has been fortunate in having had Jean’s services as Membership Chairman, as a valued member of the Larmour Library Committee, and she is now the chief Librarian of the C.S.C.L.

Jean’s special skills in leathercraft are wide in scope, with tooling, carving, colouring, lace-cutting, braiding, embossing, filagree, and inlay work being her main interests.

Jean has won the following awards: C.N.E. Chatelaine Award; C.S.C.L. Biennial Exhibitions — twice awarded Most Original Entry; C.S.C.L. Annuals — one Salon Ribbon, several Craftsman Ribbons.

Pen-and-ink sketches of six 1979 Salon Award pieces, each captioned with a maker's name: a scalloped waste basket (Nora Huyck), a free-form box shown in side and top view (Carol McLean), a carved pendant (Mary Patterson), a set of four angular napkin holders (Jean Hunter), a fluted bowl (Bea Austin), and a pair of monogrammed book ends (Clara Cavanagh).
Salon Awards, named on the list the page before. Summer 1979, p. 3.

As her required technical article for Canadian Leathercraft — see Volume XXVI, No. 1, Page 8 — “A Survival Kit”. She also has written an article for the Who’s Who page, re Jessie Little.

Jean Hunter will now, as a member of the Council of Fellows, be assisting at judging and jurying for Annuals, Associate and Fellow standing, Biennial Exhibitions and helping screen articles for the C.N.E. sale. Her contribution has been great in the past, and we welcome her knowledge and abilities as a Fellow.

Besides all this, Jean is a swell human being!

by Helen Wheaton, Chairman, Council of Fellows.

From the "Who's Who in Leathercraft" column in Canadian Leathercraft, Summer 1981.