Rex Lingwood

The People

Rex Lingwood

← People of the Society · on record 1970–2015

The Society’s records

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

His work won the Canadian Guild of Crafts' Best Decorated Leather award at the C.N.E. in 1971. He showed three 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 three 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. He wrote Leather in Three Dimensions (1980) and the introduction to the leather section of Canada Crafts in 1977 (see Members in print).

From Fall 1973, page 10; Fall 1974, page 5; Summer 1974, page 4; Leather ’74: exhibition catalogue, Toronto Public Libraries, page 5; and Exhibition catalogue 1976: Craft Gallery of the Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto, page 5.

Awards

Best Decorated Leather 1971
Best Functional Design in Leather 1974
Best Leather Entry 1975
Canadian Handicrafts Guild Competition First Prize 1973
Design Canada Craft Award Honourable Mention 1974
Leather '74 Honourable Mention 1974
Leather '76 Award 1976

Demonstrations given

Leatherwork workshops attended by CSCL members (a noted Canadian leather sculptor) 1970s
Workshop
From Ruth Haig: her résumé, prepared for the John Mather Award nomination, 2005.
Cuir bouilli demonstration and slide show (CSCL's Special Guest; noted leather artist) 2015
65th Annual
From Spring 2015, page 8.

Where this comes from

Life and work

Work: Residencies and service: resident artist, Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain (1997); Fellow, Liguria Study Center, Bogliasco Foundation (Nov–Dec 2007); juror for Ontario Arts Council craftsmen's grants (1989, 2008); consultant to the Jam Factory leather workshop, Adelaide (1982); and organiser of the leather demonstrations for ‘In Praise of Hands’, Ontario Science Centre (1974).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; A founder of CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area); chair of its board 2005–2009 and a long-time member of its selection and installation committees.
From Rex Lingwood, biographical statement, accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/shortcv.html.
Study: B.A. (Psychology), York University, 1968; Honours B.F.A. (Sculpture and Stage Design), York University, 1971.
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.
Teaching: Has lectured and taught workshops in Canada and abroad, including at the Royal College of Art (London), the Sculpture Department of the City University of New York, and the School of Art of the Australian National University, Canberra.
From Rex Lingwood, biographical statement, accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/shortcv.html.; Workshop tours of Australia and New Zealand organised by their craft councils (1982); Leather Arts Network conferences, Boston (1983) and Winston-Salem (1984); Australia again in 1985 and 1988; the keynote address at the first national conference of the Association of New Zealand Leatherworkers, Palmerston North (1988); the Association of Designer Leatherworkers conference, Bath (1988); and lectures and workshops in England in 1996 (Northampton Museum, the Royal College of Art, Walsall Leather Museum).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; His own website's ‘Links’ page links all four parts of the heat-forming workshop he gave the Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft, recorded by Eugene Pik and posted on YouTube – corroborating the site's own record of the workshop.
From Rex Lingwood website, 'Links' page, accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/links.html.
Art: Described by the Makers Gallery as a Canadian sculptor working in several media, with an international reputation for innovative leatherwork exploring heat-hardening methods that start from medieval cuir bouilli.
From Makers Gallery artist directory, accessed 20 October 2026, https://makersgallery.baremetal.com/.
Exhibitions: His touring solo show ‘Rex Lingwood: Boxes and Bowls, Experiments with Functional Subjects’ ran at the Deutsches Ledermuseum, Offenbach (12 October 1995 – 11 February 1996); Espace Visitation, Musée International de la Chaussure, Romans, France (3 March – 29 May 1996); the Netherlands Leder en Schoenenmuseum, Waalwijk (15 June – 20 October 1996); Northampton Museum (26 October – 24 November 1996); Landesgewerbeamt Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe (20 December 1996 – 26 January 1997); and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (6 March – 6 April 1997) – six venues across Germany, France, the Netherlands, England and Canada.
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; Other one-person exhibitions: The Craft Gallery, Toronto (1974); Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax (1976); ‘Graceful Collapse’, Mount Saint Vincent and the Visual Arts Centre, Montreal (1977); Craftsman of the Month, Harbourfront, Toronto (1980); Brampton Library and Art Gallery, and the Canadian Guild of Crafts, Montreal (1981); Koffler Gallery, Toronto (1983); ‘Illusions, Allusions’, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (1989); and the Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo (1996, 2003, 2009).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; Selected group exhibitions: ‘Ontario Master Craftsmen’, York University Art Gallery (1974); ‘Skin Forms: Innovations in Leather’, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University (1979); ‘Forms of Leather’, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg (1982); ‘A Different Alchemy’, Harbourfront Art Gallery (1983); ‘Old Fields New Paths’, a Department of External Affairs touring exhibition to Japan and Australia (1985); ‘Leather Works’, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, touring (1989); ‘Leather in Life, Art and Industry’, Northampton, Walsall and Cordwainers College, London (1992); ‘A Treasury of Craft’ (1992) and ‘Basketry’ (1996), Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver; ‘Two Generations’, with Daphne Lingwood, Port of Spain, Trinidad (1995); ‘Looking Forward’, an Ontario Craft Council touring exhibition (2000); ‘Reflections’, Leather Art Forum, touring Germany, the Netherlands and Norway (2003); and SOFA Chicago (2009).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; He has exhibited in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad – nine countries – and his work is in public and private collections in eight countries. Since 1971 it has appeared more than 60 times in over 45 publications; he is the author of two books and numerous articles.
From Rex Lingwood, biographical statement, accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/shortcv.html.; Solo exhibition at Artcite, Windsor, Ontario, 8–18 September 1982.
From ArtFacts exhibition record, accessed 20 October 2026, https://artfacts.net/exhibition/rex-lingwood-artcite-windsor-ontario-1982.; One of 36 artists in ‘Mentor’s Choice: An Exhibition Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Ontario Crafts Council’ (Toronto: Ontario Crafts Council, 1986; a 16-page catalogue with 36 colour illustrations).
From Artexte library catalogue record, 1986, https://e-artexte.ca/id/eprint/4340/.; Craft Horizons and American Craft notices add: a leatherwork course in the Georgian Bay area (19–23 July 1976); advanced leather techniques at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's Seminar ’79 (Jan 1979); his ‘Set of Three Leather Boxes’ (hand-shaped vegetable-tanned cowhide), illustrated in the review of ‘Skin Forms’, the first major museum exhibition devoted to leather (Cornell, 1979, 26 works by 17 artists); leather instructor at PEI Art Summer ’81, Charlottetown; leather sculpture at Sylvia Ullman American Crafts, Cleveland (Oct 1983); slides of Canadian leatherwork shown at the 1984 Leather Arts Network conference; and ‘Organic/Inorganic’, with Sid Garrison and William Baran-Mickle, Bank Street Gallery, Palo Alto (19 Nov – 28 Dec 1985).
From Craft Horizons, Apr 1976 p. 58 and Dec 1978 p. 81; American Craft, Dec 1979/Jan 1980 p. 65, Jun/Jul 1981 p. 54, Oct/Nov 1983 p. 88, Jun/Jul 1984 p. 93, Dec 1985/Jan 1986 pp. 8, 78; Center for Craft digital archive, https://archives.centerforcraft.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2/id/17335.
Collections: His work is in nine public collections: the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Ottawa); the Canadian Crafts Council Permanent Collection; the Jean A. Chalmers Collection; the Nova Scotia Designer Craftsmen Collection; the Coach Collection of Leather Art (New York); the Deutsches Ledermuseum (Offenbach); the Walsall Leather Museum and the Museum of Leathercraft, Northampton (England); the Netherlands Leather Museum (Waalwijk); and Wanganui Regional Technical College (New Zealand).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.
Honours: Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 2004.
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; Awards listed in his curriculum vitae, 1973–1983, some of which are also in the Society's own records: an award at ‘Entre Act’ (1973); Best Undecorated Leather, Canadian Guild of Crafts (1973); Best Entry, Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft juried exhibition (1976); Best Leather, ‘Hand to Hand’ (1976); Best Leather, ‘Designed for Production’ (1977); Best Production Entry, Designer Craftsmen ’78; Best Functional Design in Leather, Ontario Crafts ’78; Second in Show, Ontario Craft Council Southwest Region (1979); and a Purchase Award, Artisan Village, Olde Hide House (1983).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.; Grants: the Ontario Arts Council (1978, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988); Canada Council Explorations (1987); and the Ontario Ministry of Culture's Arts Abroad program (1995).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.
Publications: ‘Leather in Three Dimensions’ was published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1980: 112 pages, ISBN 0-442-29733-5.
From Google Books record, 1980, https://books.google.com/books/about/Leather_in_Three_Dimensions.html?id=JyLlAAAAMAAJ.; Writings beyond his book: ‘Leather Today: A Consideration of Leather as a Medium’ and ‘Leather Containers’, in the ‘Leather’ section of Canada Crafts, Vol. 2 No. 5 (Jun–Jul 1977), pp. 6–21; ‘Leather Sculpture’, Craftsman (Sep 1980); ‘Sculpture in the Crafts: Recent Developments in Leather’, Craft Australia (Spring 1982/83); ‘Chemical Hazards in Leatherworking’, Leathercrafter’s Newsletter (Aug 1982); ‘Daphne of Canada’, Ontario Craft (Winter 1983, with Stephen Weir); ‘Aussies Leather the Yanks’, South Australia Crafts (Winter 1984); ‘Reflections on the Crafts’, New Zealand Crafts (Summer 1988); ‘Heat Forming’, Designer Leatherworker no. 2 (Jun 1990; reprinted in Leather Artisan, 1991); the Ledermuseum exhibition catalogue (1995); and ‘Hugh Stollmeyer: A Portrait Through His Painting and Letters’, with Betsy Donati (2016).
From Rex Lingwood, Curriculum Vitae (long version, PDF), accessed 20 October 2026, http://www.rexlingwood.ca/longcv.pdf.

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