J. Carl Heywood, is one of the most respected print makers working in Canada today. His strong architectural style, a passion for print making processes and an endless desire to evolve his imagery is largely responsible for the great success he has enjoyed for more than 30 years. He has also balanced his artistic career with education as a professor of printmaking in the Bachelor of Fine Art program at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

John Carl Heywood was born June 6, 1941 in Toronto, Ontario. As a youngster he loved to draw and fondly recalls receiving inspiration from his favorite E.C. comics: Two Fisted Tales, Tales From the Crypt and Mad.

He also had encouragement from his mother who remarked on his terrific sense of colour. Following high school, he enrolled in the Ontario College of Art and began his formal art education in drawing, painting and printmaking. He studied with printer maker Fred Hagan and was a classmate of David Blackwood. It was there Carl fell in love with silkscreening because of its great flexibility with colour and its ability to take an image in many different directions. He graduated from OCA in 1963.

His quest for learning and creating the perfect print has never subsided. Following a year as a secondary school art teacher in Belleville, Ontario, he moved to Paris, France in 1967 and worked for four years doing etching at S.W. Hayter's Atelier 17. It was there that he fine tuned his printmaking expertise, met fellow Canadian artist Irene F. Whittome and, launched his artistic career. He returned to Canada in 1973 and since that time, has never looked back. Carl Heywood has lived and worked as an artist and a teacher in Kingston, Ontario since 1974.

Carl Heywood is a prolific print maker. He began to exhibit in the early 1970's, and has shown in most of the international print biennales since that time. He has won numerous awards for his work over the years including the prestigious Edition Award at the World Print Four in San Francisco in 1983. Heywood has also had more than 75 one man shows across Canada, in Europe and in the United States. His work is included in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, the Musée d' Art Moderne, Paris, France, the Art Gallery of Ontario and, an archive of his prints resides in the Artists For Kids Gallery in North Vancouver.