Irva Ford

The People

Irva Ford

← People of the Society · on record 1956–1977

This is the Society’s own record of Irva Ford. A biography: Our Past President, Summer 1972 →

The Society’s records

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

In memoriam · 11 October 1977

Charter President of the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild, which was formed on 11 October 1956, twenty-one years to the day before she died. She was, in the Executive Council’s words, "the guiding force behind our first Prestige Exhibition"; she took awards at the Society’s own exhibitions, the C.N.E. Canadian Guild of Crafts, the Hamilton Artisans Guild and the International Assemblies in Canada and the United States. The Winter 1977 newsletter printed the Council’s testimonial: "Unsparing of herself and so wonderfully sure that you could do just about anything, yourself… We all feel we lost a friend when Irva left us so suddenly." The Society’s 1975 retrospective dates the first Prestige Show to 1969, at Toronto City Hall, where the testimonial says 1970; the archive states both rather than choosing. The Society’s memorial volume gives her full name as Emily Irva Ford; the "Irma" that recurs elsewhere in the record is a misreading, not the Society’s own usage.

From Winter 1977–78, page 2.

Also recorded as Erva Ford, Irma Ford, Mrs. A.L. Ford, Mrs. Irva Ford, Mrs. L.L. Ford

Branch

Hamilton · first recorded holding office in 1956

Certification

Associate of the CSCL 1957
The election notice prints the town as “Hamilton, Ont.”.
Fellow of the CSCL 1958
The election notice prints the town as “Hamilton, Ont.”.

She wrote on cross-dyeing for the Society's newsletter. Four pieces chosen for “Ontario Crafts – Leather Today”, the Society’s Centennial travelling exhibition: a grooved tray, a small oblong tray, a belt and a bracelet. The Canadian Guild of Crafts (Ontario) selected the articles; the exhibition opened at the Guild Shop on 2 October 1967 and was to travel across Canada during 1968. Showed four pieces at Leather '74, the Society's exhibition at the Toronto Public Libraries' Learning Resources Centre, 666 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto, 3-28 June 1974, and five pieces in the Society's exhibition at the Craft Gallery and Resource Centre of the Ontario Crafts Council, 346 Dundas Street West, Toronto, 2-28 March 1976. The Irva Ford Award, for the best moulded piece, is named for her.

From Fall 1970, page 8; Summer 2005, page 4; Leather ’74: exhibition catalogue, Toronto Public Libraries, page 5; Exhibition catalogue 1976: Craft Gallery of the Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto, page 5; Fall 1967, page 9; Autumn 1956, page 11; and Winter 1959–60, page 7.

Held the Society's professional stamp No. XXVII, issued in 1958, which came back broken in 1978.

From Register of professional stamps, May 2012.

Served the Society as

President 1969–1972
Past President 1972–1974
1st Vice-President 1968
Hamilton Branch Chairman 1956
Chairman 1957
1st Eastern Regional Meeting Panel of Experts 1958
Executive Council 1958–1975
Hamilton Branch Past President 1959
Members at Large 1959
Chairman Exhibitions Committee 1960–1974
Charter Member, Hamilton Handicraft Guild (later Artisans Guild of Hamilton) 1961
Council 1961–1977
Exhibition Convener 1961–1962
C.N.E. Demonstrator 1962
Exhibitions Chairman, Hamilton Leathercraft Guild 1962
P.N.E. Exhibit Committee Convener 1962
Hamilton Branch Exhibitions Convener 1963
10th Assembly Committee - Salon 1964
Vice-President 1964–1967
11th Assembly Demonstrator 1965
Vice Chairman in charge of Branches 1968
Leathercraft Representative, Hamilton Handicraft Guild 1962–1970
Exhibitions Convener 1975
World Crafts Council Delegate 1976
27th Annual Demonstrator 1977
Hamilton Branch President 1977
President, Hamilton Leathercraft Guild 1956–1958
Program Chairman, Hamilton Leathercraft Guild 1971–1973

Awards

Best Functional Design 1971
Canadian Handicraft Guild Competition 1966
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition First Prize 1958, 1965, 1973
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition Honourable Mention 1957, 1965, 1973
Canadian Handicrafts Guild On Display 1972
Craftsman Award, 11th International Assembly 1965
Craftsman Ribbon 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1977
Design Canada Craft Award Honourable Mention 1974
International Assembly Craftsmanship Ribbon 1963, 1964
International Assembly Salon Ribbon 1962, 1964
Leather '74 Memorial Award 1974
Leather '76 Craftsman Award 1976
Leather '76 Salon Award 1976
Ontario Craft Foundation EEDEE Award 1973
Ontario Souvenir and Handcraft Competition Recommended 1963
Salon Award 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970
The Great Mississippi Valley Fair, First Place 1972
The Great Mississippi Valley Fair, Honorable Mention 1972
The Great Mississippi Valley Fair, Second Place 1972
Undecorated Leather 1969
Western Fair 2nd Prize 1973
Western Fair 3rd Prize 1973

Demonstrations given

Dying Leather Gray and Inverted Carving 1964
14th Annual
From Spring 1964, page 2.
Box Covering 1965
15th Annual
From Spring 1965.
Moulding and dyeing leather trays 1969
Woodstock Branch meeting, 30 January 1969
From Creative Leathercraft (notice).

Where this comes from

Life and work

From the Society's 1972 tribute to her as its retiring President, from "The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford", written by her children in 1985, and from a 2005 newsletter tribute to Ruth Haig.

Background: She was born Emily Irva Pearson in Hanover, Ontario, on 26 April 1905, and had a sister.
From The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford, February 1985.
Family: In 1936 she married Arthur Llewellyn Ford, a Hanover schoolmate and pharmacist. Their three children all became professional musicians; their daughter, Susan, later became Susan Ford Ricketts.
From The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford, February 1985.; When she married she moved to Hamilton.
From the biography “Our Past President, Summer 1972”.
Work: She trained and worked as a public school teacher, with an Ontario Normal School certificate: she taught 1925-28 at a one-room school near Hanover and then at William Burgess Public School, Toronto, before turning to craft work.
From The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford, February 1985.; Her custom-designed commissions included a portfolio presented to Ellen Fairclough, M.P., by the Hamilton Council of Women; a leather cover for an old German newspaper presented to the Mayor of Hamburg, Germany; motorcycle tool boxes for World's Championship Races in Ireland; and leather cases for solid gold toothpicks.
From the biography “Our Past President, Summer 1972”.
Study: Her leathercraft training began with glove-making under Muriel Burnaby in 1935, and continued with leather carving under a Mr. McDougall at the Humber Valley Leather Studio, classes at Central Technical School, a McMaster University summer school under Don McKinnon, and advanced work with Robert Muma at the Mumart Studios of Creative Leathercraft.
From The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford, February 1985.
Teaching: She taught leather in Hamilton at every and all available opportunities, and by 1972 had taught at Westdale Secondary night school for twenty years.
From the biography “Our Past President, Summer 1972”.; Ruth Haig studied leathercrafting for 8 years at the Adult Education classes taught by "Hamilton’s renowned Irva Ford".
From Summer 2005, page 4.
Other crafts: She was always interested in crafts, particularly woodcarving and leathercraft.
From the biography “Our Past President, Summer 1972”.; She had won prizes for woodcarving in the early 1930s.
From The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford, February 1985.
Community: She was a life member of the Women's Art Association of Hamilton and the Anglican Church Women.
From the biography “Our Past President, Summer 1972”.

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