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LEIGHTON, Barbara
- Born
- Plymouth, England, 1911
- Died
- Calgary, Alberta, 1986
- Biography synopsis
- Barbara Leighton (nee Harvey) attended the Provincial Institute of Design and Technology in Calgary where she met and married A.C. Leighton, Art Director and instructor at the school. She worked closely with her husband, often making lino and woodblock prints based on his paintings. She was elected to the Canadian Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers and belonged to the Alberta Society of Artists. In 1965 after the death of her husband, she returned to studies at the Alberta College of Art, graduating in fibre and metalwork. She continued to produce linocuts and woodcuts based on her husband's works, signing them “Barleigh.” Barbara Leighton, who had always been known for promoting and managing her husband's artistic career, turned her home into the Leighton Art Centre which became a Foundation in 1974. In addition to showing her husband's work, she set up a centre for crafts. In 1984, she received the Alberta Achievement Award for her contribution to Alberta's arts. A number of her works are in the collection of the Alberta Art Foundation.
- Media used
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Education
- Calgary Institute of Technology and Art (under A.C. Leighton)
- Alberta College of Art, ? - 1969 (under John Esler)
- University of Calgary, 1967 - ? (under workshop with Toshi Yoshida)
- Memberships
- Alberta Society of Artists, 1976
- Canadian Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers, 1942
- File & Archive locations
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of Calgary Library, AB
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Armstrong, Christopher and H.V. Nelles. The Painted Valley: Artists Along Alberta's Bow River, 1845-2000. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 2007
- Cochran, Bente Roed. Printmaking in Alberta 1945-1985 Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1989
- MacDonald, Colin S. The Dictionary of Canadian Artists. (Volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker) Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009.
- Zimon, Kathy E. Alberta Society of Artists: The First Seventy Years Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000
