Bernard Middleton (1909 - 1996) was born in Derbyshire, England and moved to Calgary with his family in 1911. As a young man, he was one of A.C. Leighton’s most talented students at Provincial Institute of Technology and Art—what is now the Alberta University of the Arts. Leighton invited Middleton to join the staff at the Banff School in 1937 where he managed the art supplies and taught for four years. He was an early member of the Alberta Society of Artists and was President of the Calgary Sketch Club in 1937 and 1938. He exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy, and the National Gallery of Canada. Despite his early promise, Middleton gave up his practice in the early 1940s; he served in World War II and later worked in the oil and gas industry.