David McPherson

The People

David McPherson

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This is the Society’s own record of David McPherson. A biography: In Their Own Words →

The Society’s records

Everything the Society’s own records say of David McPherson: the offices held, the standings conferred, and the awards won. Where the records are silent, so is this part of the page.

Also recorded as Dave McPherson

Standing

Society Member 1988–1997

Branch

Woodstock · recorded holding office in 2007

Certification

Associate of the CSCL 1991
The contemporary newsletter (1991-summer p2) corroborates the same event. A reprinted newspaper profile (1991-92-winter pp2-3, "Port Leathercrafters Share Secrets with Niagara Guild", by Marilyn Johnson) has him naming the four qualifying pieces in his own words: "the belt, box, wallet, and purse." He taught mathematics at Port Colborne High School for 27 years by this date; his wife Dorothy, a folk-art doll maker, had just joined the Hamilton Branch.
Fellow of the CSCL 2005

In the Society's own Members-at-Large final report (May 2026), he recalls first leathercraft lessons around age ten, and says he later realized these may have been given under the London Branch though he did not join CSCL until decades afterward. Two of his pieces were chosen for the Society’s 1985 Travelling Exhibition, from about sixty entries, by the judges Robert Muma, Paul Williams and Alison Parsons: a belt with a stamped design, and a fitted jewellery box in cowhide with acrylic dyes. He made a square for the CSCL Leather Quilt. He showed three pieces in the Society's exhibition at the Etobicoke Art Gallery, 4-29 September 1992. He showed five pieces at Leather 2004, the Society's biennial juried exhibition at the Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Boulevard, 2-30 November 2004, with the Woodstock guild. He was one of the nine members whose work was shown in Leather 2013: Creative Versatility at the Woodstock Art Gallery, 12 January to 2 March 2013, each writing about their own pieces in the exhibition’s own pages. He showed five pieces at Leather 2000: Fifty Years of Leather Art, the Society’s exhibition in the Grand Hall Gallery of the Woodstock Museum, 466 Dundas St., 20 May to 17 June 2000 (Cornucopia; Half-Circle Box Set; Jewellry box - Emu Inset; Desk Organizer - Round; Desk Organizer - Square).

From Fall 1998, page 2; Annual General Meeting minutes, 28 April 2006, page 7; Annual General Meeting minutes, 5 May 2007, page 7; Etobicoke Art Gallery exhibition 1992: catalogue, page 14; Leather 2013, Creative Versatility: the exhibition brochure, with the exhibitors’ statements; Leather 2004: Juried Biennial Exhibition, Hamilton Public Library, page 3; Members-at-Large: Final Newsletter Report, page 1; Fall 1985, page 4; and Leather 2000: Fifty Years of Leather Art, Exhibition Programme, Woodstock Museum, page 4.

Served the Society as

Hamilton Branch Treasurer 1988–1997
Director 1992–2012
Editor 1995–1997
Correspondence 1997–1999
Corresponding Secretary 1997–1999
Chairman, Council of Fellows 2006–2011
Woodstock Branch President 2006–2007
Chairman Council of Fellows 2007
Chairman – Council of Fellows 2010

Honours

Honourary Life Membership 2014
Presented with a framed certificate at the 2014 Annual. A graduate of Western (BA) and Toronto (MEd), he taught mathematics and computer science for thirty years and served the Hamilton Branch.
Ontario Volunteer Service Award 2005
A 25-year Ontario Volunteer Service Award from CSCL; he already held a 10-year Ontario Volunteer Service Award from the Niagara Guild of Crafts.
Zalitis Pin 1991
Awarded with his Associate standing at the 41st Annual General Meeting, 3-5 May 1991, Beacon Motor Inn, Jordan Station (Vineland), for an average of 81.7% on his submitted articles. Printed "Zalitiz" on this page (a z, not an s); kept as printed in the citation, standardized to "Zalitis" here as elsewhere in the register.

Awards

Best in Show 1999
Craftsman Ribbon 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
Fred Brown Award for Best Coloured Leather 1994
Irva Ford Award for Best Molded Work 2000
Leather 2008 Honourable Mention 2008
Michigan Leather Award (best colour) 2010
Moore-Pearsall Award 1990
OCC Design Award of Excellence 1984
Ontario Crafts Council Award 2008
Ontario Crafts Council Award: Honourable Mention 1990
Participation Ribbon 2009
Salon Award 1985, 1986
Salon Ribbon 1989, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
Tandy Leather Award 1987
Tandy Leather Co. Leatherwork Award 1995
Weston Trophy Entry (runner-up) 2003
Weston Trophy Winning Piece 1993
Zalitis Pin 1991

Demonstrations given

Freeform Boxes 1985
35th Annual
From 35th Annual Meeting 1985: programme, The Continental Inn, Barrie.
Leather Mache demonstrations 1993
44th Annual
From 43rd Annual Meeting 1993: programme, Royal Resort, Fenelon Falls.
Acrylic Rubs, for subtle colour and dramatic effects 1995
45th Annual
From Summer 1995, page 2.
Half-circle box with piano-hinged lid (CSCL Workshop, Hamilton, 19 May 1997) 1997
Workshop, 1997
From Spring 1997, page 8.
Fish leather talk (with Dorothy McPherson) 1998
48th Annual
From Summer 1998, page 9.
Box Construction (workshop demonstration) 2000
50th Anniversary Annual
From Spring/Summer 2000, page 5.
Pin design demonstration 2003
53rd Annual
From Spring 2003, page 4.
Hinged Leather Boxes (workshop) 2006
Workshop, 2006
From Spring 2006, page 2.

Where this comes from

Life and work

In David McPherson's own words: the biography and artist statements he wrote in March 2010, and his recollection quoted in the Society's Members-at-Large final report (May 2026).

Background: He grew up in rural Ontario on his family's ancestral homestead, with its sumacs, its sunny orchard and its beehives.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.
Work: Mathematics was his career, and by 2010 he was a retired teacher of mathematics living in London. He sold his leather boxes, taking part in the Toronto Gift Show to market his work internationally; in 2010 it was available at ARTISTIX, London, ON, and he estimated that he had made over 400 boxes since he began retailing them 20 years before.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.
Study: In the early 1950s his parents signed him up, at a booth at the Western Fair in London, Ontario, for 10 weekly leathercraft lessons at the YWCA.
From Members-at-Large: Final Newsletter Report, page 1.; While in his teens he began leathercrafting, making a carved wallet at classes held at the YMCA, London.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.
Teaching: One year he taught leather crafting at Haliburton School of the Arts. He also demonstrated at community events: as guest leathercraftsman in The Tack Shop at Fanshawe Pioneer Village, London; at the CNE, Toronto; and at the Thanksgiving Festival, Balls' Falls Conservation Area, Niagara.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.
Other crafts: He enjoys woodworking: for the lid of his box WHO I AM he hand-turned a sumac insert on a miniature lathe in his woodshop.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.
Art: In 2010 he described his trademark as hinge-lid boxes constructed entirely of leather, built around a base of thick, rigid sole leather. Their shapes are geometric, influenced by his mathematical background: round, rectangular, oval, half-circle, apple (polar limaçon), or irregular, following the outline of an inset stone. The lids often feature decorative gemstones or exotic wood. He has competed and shown work in several Ontario Crafts Council shows.
From the biography “In Their Own Words”.

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