L. Brent KingtonEmail: bdkington@gmail.com
L. Brent Kington retired in 1996 after 35 years of service to Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He served as the Director of the School of Art and Design from 1981 to 1995 and professor of the metalsmithing program from 1961 to 1996. He received a BFA degree from the University of Kansas and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Beginning in 1962, Kington’s sculpture and metalwork has been included in more than 350 group and solo exhibitions at museums and galleries. He has participated in many international exhibitions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Vatican Museum, Rome. In addition, his work has been curated into exhibitions which have toured in Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe.
Exhibitions which included Kington’s work are “The Eloquent Object,” Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK, international tour; “50th Anniversary Exhibition,” Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland, OR, national tour; and “Craft Today – Poetry of the Physical,” The Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, international tour. His work is represented in a number of prestigious public collections, including the Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of Art and Design, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Twenty-five museums include Kington’s work in their permanent collections.
Kington has been invited to present at conferences, to lecture and to perform as a visiting artist on 90 occasions. He has served as president, director, and member of the Board of Trustees for several national professional organizations, including The Society of North American 
Goldsmiths, The Artist Blacksmith Association of North America, The American Craft Council, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum. In 1978, Kington was elected to the American Craft Council Academy of Fellows, and in 2000 he was awarded the gold medal for consummate craftsmanship from the American Craft Council.
In 2003, the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University approved the naming of the Blacksmithing Studio, “The L. Brent Kington Smithy.” In 2006, the L. Brent Kington Professorial Chair was Endowed. He has received two Artist Fellowship Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mythic Metalsmith, an exhibition of his work opened March 16, 2008 at the Illinois State Museum Art Gallery in Whittington, IL, and will be exhibited in the Illinois Museum Art Galleries through 2010.
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