1981 - 2010 Mather Award Recipients

John & Barbara Mather Award for Lifetime Achievement

John Mather was the founding treasurer of the Ontario Crafts Council, now Craft Ontario, and in 1972, was President of the Ontario Crafts Foundation. Prior to the Foundation's amalgamation with the Canadian Guild of Crafts, he foresaw the need for a common voice for craft in the province and believed that, "A single organization acting on behalf of craftspeople could exert considerable influence". As president of Indusmin Limited, John Mather established the company's unique collection of craft. After his death in 1977, Indusmin Ltd. honoured John Mather through the establishment of the John Mather Fund, which is administered by the Executive Committee of Craft Ontario.

Throughout the last thirty-three years, Barbara Mather, John's widow, has continued to support the award as an important marker of distinction. With her passing in March of 2013, the Mather family has again committed to the future of the award. Our deepest thanks to the Mather family for their dedication to recognising exceptional achievement in support of the craft community. As of 2014, we are pleased to announce that the award will be officially continued under the name of the John and Barbara Mather Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Award Recipients are truly outstanding in their fields and have displayed exceptional commitment to the further development of craft in Ontario and throughout Canada. On behalf of Ontario's craft community, and through the generous support of Barbara Mather, we are pleased to recognize and celebrate them with this great honour. The Award has been celebrating distinguished contributors to craft since 1981, and it is one of the highest markers of exceptional commitment to the development of craft in Ontario.

Recipients (1981-2009)

2009 David Kaye, Lillian Forester, Jonathon Bancroft-Snell

2008 Anne Chambers, Peter Fleming, Carolynn Pynn-Trudeau

2007 Melanie Egan, Alice Fournier, Kent Farndale

2006 Herbert O. Bunt, Gilles Latour, Rosemary Swan

2005 Judy Donaldson, Ruth Haig, Brian Truscott

2004 Bruce Cochrane, Pat James, Robert Têtu

2003 Keith Campbell, Doug Farndale, Ann Roberts

2002 Aggie Beynon, Winifred Shantz, Harold Takayesu

2001 Paulus Tjang, Melinda Mayhall, Susan Jefferies

2000 Jan Waldorf, Donn Zver, Jonathan E. Smith

1999 Anne Sneath, Gail Crawford, Peta Hall

1998 William Hodge, Judith Tinkl, Ann Suzuki

1997 Joan Francis, Edith Pierce, Mary Walker

1996 Eric Poschmann, Bill Corcoran, David McAleese & Alison Wiggins

1995 Scott Barnim, Anne Barros, Alison Vallance

1994 Heather Daymond, Wendy Shingler, Adrienne Van Riemsdijk

1993 Ron Roy, Shelagh Smith, Frank Tucker

1992 Barb Bolin, Mary Corcoran, David Wilde

1991 Susan Eckenwalder, Elizabeth Kantor, Ruth Markowitz

1990 Eunice Anders, Suzann Greenaway, Steve Irvine

1989 Robert Jekyll, Ted Carson, Leta Cormier

1988 Paula Letki, C. Kennedy May, Alice Peck Slavin

1987 Ankaret Dean, Joan Foster, Ann Mortimer

1986 Barbara Mather, Donald A. Stuart, Vincent Tovell, Susan Willoughby

1985 Dorothy Burnham C.M., Stephen Hogbin, Walter Sunahara

1984 Jean Johnson, Richard LaPrairie, Karen Smith

1983 Jean Burke, Elizabeth Dingman, Mary Eileen Hogg C.M.

1982 Helen Frances Gregor C.M., Dr. Franc Joubom, Yvonne Williams

1981 Tommia Vaughan-Jones, Hero Kielman, Donald McKinley