Skip to content
CSCL emblem
Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft
1950–2026
CSCL·People·People of the Society·Ruth Haig
The Society’s Records

Ruth Haig

← People of the Society · on record 1965–2010

Everything the Society’s own records say of Ruth Haig — the offices held, the standings conferred, and the awards won — gathered on one page. Where the records are silent, so is this one.

This is the Society’s own record of Ruth Haig. A biography: Artisan of Yester Year →

In memoriam · 1 September 2011

A Fellow and Life Member of the Society, at Dundas, Ontario. Winner of the 2005 John Mather Award. The Society’s Fall 2011 newsletter gives 1 September 2011; her published obituary (Marlatt Funeral Home, Swackhamer Chapel) gives 3 September 2011, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in her 83rd year.

From Autumn 2011, page 4.

Also recorded as Ruth Haig Waechter, Ruth M. Haig, Ruth Waecher Haig, Ruth Waechter, Waechter, Ruth Haig

Standing

Society Member 1988 · Honourary Life Member 1997

Branch

Hamilton · member since 1960

Certification

  • Associate of the CSCL 1966
  • Fellow of the CSCL 1985
    Certificate of Fellow standing presented by Fred Brown, President of the Council of Fellows, at the 35th Annual Meeting, 27 April 1985, alongside Karla Van Horne's Associate standing.

A registered X-ray technologist from Mildmay, Ontario, who studied leathercraft for eight years under Hamilton's Irva Ford. She earned her Associate standing in 1966 and her Fellowship in 1985, won the Weston Trophy across many years and the Michigan and Irva Ford awards, taught workshops on both sides of the border, and served the Society and the Artisans Guild of Hamilton in many capacities. She won the 2005 John Mather Award. CSCL's nomination statement for the OCC's John Mather Award (written by Dorothy McPherson) fills in more: born in Mildmay, Bruce County, in the early 1930s; moved to Hamilton in 1960 and joined CSCL and the Hamilton Handicraft Guild in 1962; worked 23 years at DOFASCO Inc. as Director of Medical Radiography Services, retiring in 1993; became a charter member of the TEXTURES craft co-op in Hamilton's Hess Village in 1983, where she helped launch fellow leathercrafter Lauchlan Harrison's retail career; and attended the World Craft Conferences in Vienna (1980) and Vancouver (1986). As Ruth Waechter, the name the papers of 1965 and 1966 print, she served on the Society's Executive Council in 1965 and as Secretary of its I.A.L.C. (International Assembly) Committee, and her work won a Craftsman Award for a braided belt at the 11th International Assembly in 1965, along with an International Assembly Salon Ribbon in 1966. Two of her pieces were chosen for “Ontario Crafts – Leather Today”, the Society’s Centennial travelling exhibition: a black braided belt and a black morocco secretary. 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. She showed 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, whose catalogue prints her name as Ruth M. Haig, and three pieces at Leather '78, the Society's exhibition at the Etobicoke Civic Centre, 550 Burnhamthorpe Road, November 1978. One piece was chosen for the Society’s 1985 Travelling Exhibition, from about sixty entries, by the judges Robert Muma, Paul Williams and Alison Parsons: a moulded box in cowhide dyed mahogany. She showed five pieces at Leather '82, the Society's exhibition at the City of Brampton Library and Art Gallery, Bramalea, 3 July to 1 August 1982, and five pieces in the Society's exhibition at the Etobicoke Art Gallery, 4-29 September 1992. She made a square for the CSCL Leather Quilt. She showed three 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 (Ranger Belt, Tan; Two-Tone Belt, Red; Leather Mache, Covered Bottle). The programme prints her as Ruth M. Haig. She wrote two projects for The Leather Craftsman, “Pocket Secretary” (1988) and “Soft Shoulder Bag” (1989) (see Members in print on the Links page).

From Autumn 2011; Winter 1965–66; Summer 1965; Summer 1966, page 3; Fall 1967, page 9; Exhibition catalogue 1976 — Craft Gallery of the Ontario Crafts Council, Toronto, page 5; Leather ’78 — exhibition catalogue, Etobicoke Civic Centre, page 5; Fall 1985, page 4; Leather ’82 — exhibition catalogue, Brampton Public Library and Art Gallery, page 4; Etobicoke Art Gallery exhibition 1992 — catalogue, page 12; Fall 1998, page 2; Leather 2000: Fifty Years of Leather Art — Exhibition Programme, Woodstock Museum, page 4; and List of Associates and Fellows, c. 1985, page 2.

Served the Society as

  • President 1987–90; 1987–1989
  • Past President 1991–1994
  • 1st Vice-President 1985–1986
  • 2nd Vice-President 1984
  • Executive Council 1965–1972
  • I.A.L.C. Committee - Secretary 1965
  • Hamilton Branch Vice-President 1967–1990
  • Recording Secretary 1969–1971
  • Hamilton Branch President 1971–1994
  • 25th Annual Demonstrator 1975
  • Hamilton Branch Secretary 1975–1989
  • Council 1978–1979
  • Executive Council Member 1980
  • Director 1981–1998
  • Vice-President 1985–1986
  • Past-President 1990–1993
  • Teaching Standards 1993–2010
  • Director (Hamilton) 1997
  • Hamilton Branch Vice President 1997

Honours

  • Ontario Volunteer Service Award 2000
    Ontario Volunteer Service Award recipient.
  • Past President's Pin 1990
    Presented by Madeleine Mitchell at the 40th Annual Meeting, in appreciation of her three years as President; Dorothy Muma also gave her a parting gift, a crystal vase.
  • Life Membership 1991
    Presented by Joyce Scruton at the 41st Annual Meeting, Beacon Motor Inn, Jordan Station (Vineland), 4 May 1991 — a year after her Past President's Pin at the 40th. The contemporary newsletter report (Summer 1991, p2) adds: Associate 1965, Fellow 1985, three years as President.
  • John Mather Award 2005
    Presented by the Ontario Crafts Council. In her honour, the CSCL Executive Council motioned a $100 donation to the Ontario Crafts Council, seconded by Nancy Durham and unanimously carried.

Awards

  • 1992 Biennial Exhibition — Moore Pearsall Award for Best Moulded Piece 1992
  • Bramalea Ribbon, Leather '82 1982
  • C.S.C.L. Executive Award for Most Functional Piece 1986
  • CSCL Executive Award 1982
  • Canadian Handicraft Guild Competition 1966
  • Canadian National Exhibition Category 213 — 2nd 1978
  • Canadian National Exhibition Category 215 — 1st 1978
  • Canadian National Exhibition Category 217 — 1st 1978
  • Canadian National Exhibition Hobby Class 210 (Household Articles) 1980
  • Canadian National Exhibition Hobby Class 212 (Belts) 1980
  • Canadian National Exhibition Hobby Class 213 (Handbags and Carrying Cases) 1980
  • Canadian National Exhibition Hobby Class 214 (Pocket-sized Items) 1980
  • Canadian National Exhibition Hobby Class 215 (Molded Articles) 1980
  • Canadian National Exhibition Leathercraft, 1981 — 2nd 1981
  • Canadian National Exhibition Women's Division 1977
  • Craftsman Award, 11th International Assembly 1965
  • Craftsman Ribbon 1977–2006
  • International Assembly Salon Ribbon 1966
  • Irva Ford Award 1984–1994
  • John Mather Award 2005
  • Leather '76 Craftsman Award 1976
  • Michigan Soft Leather Award 1980
  • Moore-Pearsall Award for Best Belt 1994
  • Ontario Crafts Council Award 1990
  • Robert Muma Award (tooled/colour work) 1995
  • Salon Award 1985–1992
  • Salon Ribbon 1978–1997
  • Special Table 1985
  • Weston Trophy Winning Piece 1993

Demonstrations given

Where this comes from

This name in the index of people →