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53-927: The OCC was founded in 1976 through the merger of the Canadian Guild of Crafts Ontario, established in 1931, and the Ontario Craft Foundation, established in 1966. In 2014, the OCC rebranded itself as Craft Ontario, simultaneously renaming the OCC Gallery as the Craft Ontario Gallery and the Guild Shop as the Craft Ontario Shop. However, the organization remains legally known as the Ontario Crafts Council. The Canadian Handicrafts Guild originated at

106-587: A group of Toronto individuals interested in crafts joined to form the Handicrafts Association of Canada. Adelaide Marriott, who had been involved with The Canadian Handicrafts Guild, informed this new group of the existence of The Canadian Handicrafts Guild. The existence of another national craft organization having been brought to their attention, the Toronto group changed their name to the Ontario Branch of

159-482: A member of the OCC, craftspeople are eligible to apply for OCC awards and scholarships as well as OCC-sponsored juried exhibitions. Members also receive discounted rates on OCC workshops, seminars, and conferences as well as complimentary admission to various galleries throughout Ontario. In addition to these discounts, members pay a reduced rate to advertise in OCC publications and on purchases at The Guild Shop. Members also receive regular communication and invitations from

212-485: A more professional image. The artists now began to be recognized as individuals, in contrast to the earlier collective identity. By the 1960s the Guild was struggling to define its direction. It had originally been concerned with home arts, but neglected the growing numbers of fine craftsmen. The Montreal branch realized that by failing to enforce quality standards it had lost standing with the latter group. Their 1963 exhibition

265-555: A new branch in Quebec, which assumed a leading role among the other guilds across the country. In 1937 the Guild participated in the international Art, Craft and Science exhibition in Paris, France. In the early 1950s the Guild began to help the Inuit of Port Harrison , Quebec, to sell their arts and crafts. Craft organizations in the 1950s changed focus from traditional to modern art, and acquired

318-420: A reference library in 1909. That year Alice Peck proposed that the Guild should start a permanent collection holding some of the best handwork. The guild sold handicrafts at its shop and through agencies. It awarded prizes at annual competitions and ran educational programs, including classes for immigrant children and a weaving school. By 1911 the Guild was very active across Canada and abroad. From 1905 to 1935

371-577: A store, Our Handicrafts Shop. The Montreal WAAC was a precursor of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. The same women were involved in both organizations. The crafts committee of the Montreal branch broke away from the WAAC in 1905, becoming the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. The Handicrafts Guild, led by Alice Peck and May Phillips, was incorporated in 1906. It was a federal non-profit organization, with

424-562: Is a dynamic logo intended to reflect the different materials used in craft. Numerous past and present OCC members have been awarded the Saidye Bronfman Award . The Saidye Bronfman Award is "Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in the fine crafts," and is one of the highest honours a craftsperson can receive. The chart below lists past or present OCC members who have received the award. Canadian Handicrafts Guild The Canadian Handicrafts Guild (now known as La Guilde)

477-749: Is a significant organization in Canadian history whose impact extended well beyond the promotion of arts and culture. During the Depression , the Guild opened a weaving school in Montréal to train instructors to teach weaving to farmers in Manitoba and Alberta . Crop failures in these provinces left land workers with no money to purchase clothing. The instruction program initiated by the Guild enabled workers in Manitoba and Alberta to weave their own fabric for clothing. In 1931,

530-415: Is administered by the executive committee of the OCC. Originally awarded to three individuals annually, the award is now given to one individual each year, a change that has increased the already high level of prestige associated with the award. The Mather Award medal was designed by Jim Wies. A hand and the OCC logo decorate one side of the medal, which is cast in bronze in high relief . The reverse side of

583-458: Is an online database of craftspeople accessible through the OCC website from which the public may commission works of craft. The OCC launched Portfolio of Makers online in October 2001. Prior to this, a hardcopy version of the program was available at the now defunct Craft Resource Centre of the OCC. In addition to housing this first, hardcopy incarnation of Portfolio of Makers, The Craft Resource Centre

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636-474: Is known in Toronto as one of the premier locations in the city for purchasing one-of-a-kind, handmade objects. Throughout its existence, a number of well-known celebrities and political figures have shopped at The Guild Shop, including Bill Clinton , Margaret Atwood , Jeanne Beker , Christopher Plummer , Beau Bridges , Robin Williams , Whoopi Goldberg and Rachel McAdams . As with the OCC offices and gallery,

689-755: The Crafts Council of British Columbia , was initially based in the Dominion Building in downtown Vancouver . It moved to Cartwright Street in Granville Island in December 1979 with federal government funding. Notes Citations Sources Dal%C3%AD-Jewels Dalí·Jewels ( Catalan : Dalí·Joies ) is a permanent exhibition at the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres , Catalonia , Spain , for which

742-595: The Great Depression would benefit from the League's support. In July 1932 the local paper in Medicine Hat , Alberta, reported that "... there seems to be some doubt about just how many handicraft organizations there are in the country, I think our local Canadian Handicraft Guild must be connected with the Handicrafts Association of Canada Incorporated." The writer described the Handicrafts Association's aim as helping to sell

795-510: The CCC was a federation of provincial crafts councils. Later it accepted membership from other crafts organizations. In 1996 the council began accepting craftspeople as individual members. However, that year the Federal government stopped funding and the council had to close its offices and lay off its staff. It continued as a legal entity, run by volunteers, but had no resources to run programs. In May 1998

848-575: The CCC was transformed into a national crafts network, the Canadian Crafts Federation / Fédération canadienne des métiers d'art. The members are the ten provincial crafts councils. The Quebec branch became the Canadian Guild of Crafts Quebec. It is now called simply the Canadian Guild of Crafts. In 2014 the Ontario Crafts Council rebranded itself as Crafts Ontario. The Craftsmen's Association of British Columbia, later renamed

901-527: The Canadian Handicrafts Guild. In 1967, the Canadian Handicrafts Guild changed their name to Canadian Guild of Crafts, and it was, ultimately, the Canadian Guild of Crafts Ontario that amalgamated with the Ontario Craft Foundation to form the OCC. The Ontario Craft Foundation was established in June 1966 following a series of recommendations developed at two provincial conferences. It was recommended that an organization be established whose primary aim would be to promote

954-759: The Canadian Handicrafts League (the Guild) announced that the Handicrafts Association of Canada, based in Toronto , had become affiliated with the Montreal-based organization. That year the Handicrafts League obtained the use of one third of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto for a large display of handicrafts from across Canada. It was hoped that farmers and country people suffering from

1007-613: The Cheatham Foundation of New York. The exhibition was on display at the Royal Ontario Museum and successfully raised $ 4,760 for the scholarship fund. In fact, the exhibition drew in the largest number of visitors for a single exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum to date. Since 1981, the OCC has recognized individuals for outstanding contribution to crafts over an extended period with a Mather Award. The namesake of

1060-501: The Craft Ontario Gallery, and they are encouraged to submit their work to OCC juried shows. Studio: Craft and Design in Canada is the OCC's biannually published magazine. It is the descendant of a number of past OCC publications – specifically, of Craftsman , which ran from 1976 to 1980 and was reborn as Ontario Craft in 1981. In 2006, the OCC launched Studio , revamping the publication's focus and design, and since then has partnered with

1113-565: The Craft Ontario Shop has also experienced a number of incarnations throughout its existence. In its beginnings, The Canadian Guild of Crafts Ontario had work available for purchase at its locations on Cumberland Street, Bloor Street, and, at their very outset, in Eaton's department store. At times, The Guild Shop had secondary outlets at various locations throughout Toronto and the wider province, including in Stratford, Ontario , from 1965 to 1969. An outlet

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1166-600: The Crafts Association of British Columbia, Alberta Craft Council, the Saskatchewan Craft Council, and the Craft Council of Newfoundland & Labrador to make the magazine a nationally distributed publication. The OCC has an awards and scholarships program through which it distributes approximately thirty awards annually. Awards are given out to both emerging and established makers. The present-day awards

1219-575: The Dutch American framemaker Henry Heydenryk, Jr. and Alemany, created special settings and illuminated frames for a traveling exhibition of the jewels sponsored by the Cheatham Foundation. The collection of jewels had already been exhibited temporarily at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres during the months of August and September 1973, a year before the museum was inaugurated and while the Master

1272-510: The Governor General Albert Grey and Alice, Countess Grey as patrons. The objectives of the Guild were to support and encourage crafts in Canada. The Guild was modeled on an idealized view of the medieval guild, and was dedicated to preserving traditional ethnic crafts, seen to be at risk of dying out. It encouraged craftspeople to work together collectively to meet market needs, selling their goods anonymously. The guild set up

1325-563: The Guild Shop) in Toronto's Yorkville district is the OCC's retail location. Since the OCC's origins as The Canadian Handicrafts Guild Ontario, retail sales have been an integral component of the OCC. Members of the OCC may submit their work for consideration to be sold at The Guild Shop, the proceeds of which support the livelihood of individual makers, as well as help support general OCC programming. The Guild Shop represents approximately 400 craftspeople from across Canada. The Craft Ontario Shop

1378-815: The Handicrafts Association of Canada of Toronto and the Mount Allison Handicrafts Guild of Sackville, New Brunswick. Products exhibited would include homespuns, tweed from a blend of angora and sheep's wool, Indian basketwork, hooked rugs, quilt, blankets and furniture. Lt.-Col. Wilfrid Bovey was re-appointed president of the guild for 1934. He reported on a successful year in 1933, with high attendance at exhibitions in Edmonton (125,000), Winnipeg (50,000) and Montreal (32,000). Other exhibitions had been held in Toronto, Charlottetown and Banff. Two new branches had been formed, one in Prince Edward Island and

1431-513: The OCC offers have their origin in the awards established by the women's committee of The Canadian Handicrafts Guild. The women's committee recognized a need for scholarships that would enable makers to further their studies in the field. Lacking funds to initiate such an endeavour, the women's committee arranged an exhibition of a portion of the Salvadore Dali collection of "Art in Jewels," owned by

1484-400: The OCC, including two issues of Studio: Craft and Design in Canada . Of the services the OCC provides to members, among the greatest impact on craftspeople are the group health and dental programs; the discount rates on business, home, and auto insurance; as well as the merchant discount rates on Visa, MasterCard, and Interac that are available through the OCC. The OCC's Portfolio of Makers

1537-420: The Ontario Craft Foundation merged. Historically, The Craft Gallery has been housed in the same building as the council's administrative offices, and this is still true today. The Craft Ontario Gallery is unique in that many of its exhibitions are framed within a critical context that is relatively uncommon when presenting works of craft. For instance, The Craft Ontario Gallery's 2009 exhibition DIwhy , for which

1590-474: The architect Òscar Tusquets has completely refurbished a building annexed to the museum. The two floors that house the collection of jewels have an entrance independent from that of the museum, and can therefore be visited separately. The exhibition, includes the thirty-seven jewels in gold and precious stones from the old Owen Cheatham collection, two jewels made later, and the twenty-seven drawings and paintings on paper that Salvador Dalí made in designing

1643-598: The award, John Mather, was president and managing director of Indusmin Limited. Through the company's association with glass and ceramic production, Mather became a firm supporter of craft, serving as President of the Ontario Crafts Foundation in 1972 and the founding treasurer of the OCC. After Mather's death in a plane crash in 1977, the OCC honoured Mather through the establishment of the John Mather Award, which

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1696-502: The council partnered with Toronto Craft Alert to organize, examined the social and political origins of the DIY movement and the ways in which its aesthetic and driving philosophy have infiltrated wider craft and art making practices. In addition to establishing a strong curatorial focus for its exhibitions, of utmost importance to the OCC is that its yearly programming reflects the diversity of its members. OCC members may apply for exhibitions at

1749-451: The development of craft in Ontario. Thus, the Ontario Craft Foundation was formed. One of the key achievements in the history of the Ontario Craft Foundation is the establishment of Sheridan College School of Design . The Foundation was also set apart by its mandate to serve craftspeople throughout the entire province of Ontario since its funding was largely drawn from taxpayer dollars. The OCC

1802-561: The end of October. It was planned to bring Quebec handicraft workers from their farms to Montreal to demonstrate their work. Some would be seeing the city for the first time. Participating organization included the Guild's branches in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, the Art Association of Montreal, the Women's Art Society, Montreal, and Union Catholique des Cultivateurs,

1855-578: The first meeting of the Interim Board of Directors of the Ontario Crafts Council was held, though the organization was not patented until August 1976. The founding president of the board was Toronto philanthropist Joan Chalmers . The Craft Ontario Gallery (previously known as the Craft Gallery or the OCC Gallery) opened in 1976 when the exhibition committees of the Canadian Guild of Crafts Ontario and

1908-606: The foundation's Conservation Department and the Dalí Study Centre, have been cataloguing each of the pieces and designing a permanent exhibition for them. The history of these jewels started in 1911. The first 22 were acquired by the US millionaire Cummins Catherwood . Salvador Dalí made the designs for the pieces on paper, with all kinds of details and great precision of shapes, materials and colours, while they were made up in New York by

1961-666: The guild exhibited the work of the First Nations at what is now the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts . In the 1930s the guild opened branch offices in each province. The Manitoba branch was formed in January 1928 by a group of over 30 women at a meeting in Winnipeg, led by Lady Constance Nanton. The organization became interested in education, and as the shop grew they also placed more emphasis on quality of design and workmanship. In May 1932

2014-600: The jewels. The whole forms an extensive collection of works carried out by the artist between 1941 and 1970, providing a perfect illustration of the various phases of his artistic development. With the consultancy and supervision of the Spanish Gemmology Association, the collection was acquired by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation from a Japanese organisation in 1999. Since that time, the association's experts, in collaboration with technicians from

2067-457: The market. Motivated by a desire to arouse waning public interest in handcrafted objects, the group organized two exhibitions of craft. The first of these exhibitions was held in 1900 in Métis, Quebec. The second was in Montréal at Henry Morgan's department store. In 1905, the group was chartered as The Canadian Handicrafts Guild; in 1906, it was incorporated nationally. The Canadian Handicrafts Guild

2120-417: The medal has the inscription: "The Ontario Crafts Council awards this medal in appreciation of your contribution to craft in Ontario." The Mather family commissions the casting of the medals as well as the presentation piece for the medal, designed by Toronto-based artist and woodworker Joel Robson. In the past, this presentation piece was designed by Michael Fortune. The Craft Ontario Shop (previously known as

2173-644: The national level the Guild was merged with the Canadian Craftsman's Association in 1974 to form the Canadian Crafts Council, now the Canadian Crafts Federation . The Montreal branch of the Women's Art Association of Canada (WAAC) was founded in 1894 by Mary Martha Phillips and Mary Alice Peck. The Montreal branch held major exhibits of applied arts in 1900 and 1902, and in June 1902 opened

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2226-635: The other in the Ottawa Valley. Cape Breton Home Industries, founded by Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell , and the Mabel Hubbard Club of Montreal were now associated with the guild. Finances were in good shape, despite a drop in sales volumes. In 1936 the newly formed Canadian Guild of Potters decided to join the Handicrafts guild. That year the Handicrafts Guild assigned its assets and liabilities to

2279-438: The products of Canadian craftsmen and people making crafts for occupational therapy, such as disabled soldiers. The association had a shop in downtown Toronto stocked with an array of products from the east, but so far with no western crafts. In May 1933 it was announced that the Canadian Handicrafts Guild had received letters of support from leaders and organizations across the country for their planned exhibition in Montreal for

2332-625: The team of the Argentinean-born silversmith Carlos Alemany under the close supervision of the artist himself. In 1958 they were acquired by The Owen Cheatham Foundation , a prestigious US foundation created in 1934 that lent the jewel collection out so that various charitable, educational and cultural organisations could raise funds by exhibiting it, and finally deposited it at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Dalí, in collaboration with

2385-414: The top of this page was designed by Debbie Adams of Adams + Associates Design Consultants Incorporated based in Toronto, Ontario. The weaving symbol that has been incorporated in the bottom, left corner was designed by the well known graphic designer Burton Kramer , who also designed the iconic Canadian Broadcasting Corporation logo. The new Craft Ontario logo, launched in 2014 and designed by SOS Design,

2438-563: The turn of the twentieth century in Montreal as a result of the dual efforts of Alice Peck (née Skelton) and Mary (May) Phillips. In the same spirit as the Arts and Crafts Movement spearheaded by the English artist and designer William Morris , these likeminded women shared an appreciation for handmade work that was becoming increasingly rare as industrialization brought machine-made materials and objects to

2491-413: The wealth of his singular iconography. Gold, platinum , precious stones ( diamonds , rubies , emeralds , sapphires , aquamarines , topazes , etc.), pearls , corals and other noble materials combine to form hearts, lips, eyes, plant and animal forms, religious and mythological symbols and anthropomorphic forms. As well as designing the forms of the jewels, Salvador Dalí personally selected each of

2544-432: Was also open at Trillium Terminal 3 at Pearson International Airport in 1991; however, this location proved unprofitable and was closed after 10 months. At one point, The Guild Shop also had work available for purchase in the CN Tower gift shop. The Guild Shop has been located at its present location of 118 Cumberland since 1995. As a member-based organization, the OCC offers many benefits and services to its members. As

2597-439: Was an association of Canadians involved in handicrafts that was founded in Montreal in 1906. At first the goal was to preserve and market traditional home crafts that were seen as being at risk of dying out. Demand for high quality products and a shift towards more "professional" craftspeople and modern designs placed stress on the organization. In 1967 the provincial branches became autonomous, and subsequently evolved separately. At

2650-437: Was formed when, in the 1970s, it was evident that there was confusion surrounding the mandates of the two independent provincial craft organizations and overlap of their programming and services. From 1973 to 1975, a series of meetings were held to discuss a merger between the Canadian Guild of Crafts and the Ontario Craft Foundation. A new board was formed of twelve board members from each founding organization. In October 1975,

2703-410: Was recognized as being "one of Canada's largest and most comprehensive libraries specializing in the craft field." Portfolio of Makers is an affordable and simple way for OCC members to advertise their work online. As a result, the database has proven to be a popular resource for craftspeople as well as designers, craft collectors, corporations, and the general public. The original OCC logo pictured at

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2756-405: Was still alive. In 1981 the collection was acquired by a Saudi multimillionaire, and later by three Japanese entities, the last of which agreed to sell it to the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation . All the pieces in the collection are unique items, and the combination of materials, dimensions and shapes used by Salvador Dalí make this a one-off set in which the artist managed to express in a unique way

2809-415: Was therefore strictly juried. In 1967 the national association and all the branch offices became autonomous. The Canadian Craftsman's Association was formed as an alternative national craft organization after the 1964 First World Congress of Craftsmen. In 1974 the Canadian Handicrafts Guild merged with the Canadian Craftsman's Association to form the Canadian Crafts Council (CCC), based in Ottawa. At first

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