Meet our Teachers

Basket weaving is near and dear to my heart, I have been making baskets for over 25 years. Over this time span I have helped many people learn how to weave baskets. While there are hundreds of styles and techniques for basket weaving, "round reed" is one of my favorites. The reed produces a simple basket that is great for learning weaving techniques. It is also easy to work with and feels nice in your hands. My husband and I have a farm in Northeast Washington, “Andrus Farms”. We raise and breed alpacas, llamas, and sheep for fiber production. At the Farm we offer farm tours, breeding, workshops, plant starts, produce, fresh eggs and handmade items for sale. I am a spinner, knitter, and weaver. I enjoy working with raw materials to turn them into something beautiful and useful. My personal philosophy is to live our lives so as to leave the world a better place and to enrich others by sharing knowledge and experiences and spreading kindness to all. My biggest passion is my love for all things “Homegrown and Handmade”.

Una is a Fiber Artist from La Grande, Oregon whose fashion and artwork has been exhibited nationally to rave reviews. As a sought after fiber arts teacher, her classes range from beginning to advanced techniques in a variety of mediums. Una grew up in her parents’ craft supply store where she gained experience in a wide range of crafts as both an artist and teacher. An example being her appearance on HGTV’s ‘That’s Clever’ in 2009, making a pair of shoes! She got started punching over a decade ago at a craft show “make and take” where she first worked with the Oxford Punch Needle. Combining unique materials is Una’s most inspiring challenge in her work; she loves “figuring it all out”. From raw wool, to sewing the finishing stitch, she is always looking ahead to new and creative approaches. Una’s latest fiber experiments include explorations in dyeing and seeing how the color and texture bring life to her designs. Una’s work has been exhibited at craft shows across the country where she also sells under her business name of Wooly Walkers. Una has completed her Advanced Oxford Punch Needle training and has been teaching punch needle for the past 15 years. She has taught at Estes Park Wool Market, Toas Wool Festival, Oregon Flock and Fiber, Black Sheep gathering, Fiber in the Forest, Stitches West and SoCal. She teaches with both patience and an attention to detail, that combined with her easy-going sense of humor results in a fun and rewarding experience for all. Una thrives on problem solving and she loves working with beginners. She can be reached through her website, www.woolywalkers

Peggy Doney has been fascinated with color since her first box of crayons. For many years, she has been discovering color recipes using triad, value, and gradient studies. If there is anything that Peggy enjoys as much as creating with fiber and color, it’s sharing that passion with others. From an annual fiber arts gathering in her back yard to teaching workshops for guilds, retreats, festivals, and one-on-one sharing, Peggy likes to pass on her excitement for fiber and color. Peggy knows all the dyeing jokes, has a plethora of dye pots, and now uses her big box of crayons as reference material. She makes her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with her fiber-enabler husband, Jeff, and two undyed white dogs.

Tammy is a fourth-generation fiber artist who enjoys sharing her passion with everyone she meets. Her love of sheep, wool, writing, and inspiring others to learn led her on the path of running her own business, Goldieknots Montana, which specializes in Montana grown wool, locally processed yarn and spinning fiber, and Made in Montana handmade gift items, as well as educational programming in fiber arts, ranging from fiber preparation to completed projects which she lovingly refers to as “Fleece to Fashion.” She has written for Ashford’s The Wheel magazine, participated in the Montana Art’s Council MAP program in 2016 and has taught at festivals throughout the US.

She is a current board member and newsletter editor of the Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners (MAWS), current member and past Secretary and Co-Chair of the Prairie Handspinners Guild in Billings, MT, a member and Secretary of the Lincoln Council for the Arts, and founder of the Lincoln Fiber Circle in her home town of Lincoln, MT.

Her teaching style is fun, creative, and interactive, and when she’s not in her studio creating or on the road teaching, you can find her writing articles for her local newspaper and spending time with her dogs, sheep, horse, and other barnyard critters.

I have been wet felting for years but in the last 5 years I have had a renewed interest in learning much more. There are many wonderful teachers in the world and I take classes from them to hone my technique. Working with fiber and my hands is wonderful therapy. Even though many projects don't come out the way my mind imagines nothing is ever a loss. Working with wool and a variety of fibers in wet felting is endless and very gratifying. I tend to love doing sculptural work more than wearable functional pieces.

I am LaVonne. I have lived in the Gallatin Valley as long as I can remember. I was born in Livingston and we moved to Manhattan when I was a baby. We live in the Dry Creek area on what I like to call a traditional homestead in terms of animals. We have a little bit of everything. My primary business here is The Wool Mill and I also run a seasonal farmstay with 2 sheepherder's wagons and a cabin. Guests come from all over the world. I've had sheep for 30 years. When I discovered needle felting about 20 years ago, I felt as though this was why I had sheep. I teach wet felting and needle felting as Artist -in -Residence at an elementary school in Bozeman. Although I don't have a lot of time for my own projects anymore, I still love to enable through teaching and providing the fiber.

Is from Pink Hill, a small eastern North Carolina community. He is a farm kid turned Cultural Anthropologist. His porcupine quill dying life started in 1979 in a Holiday Inn room sink. He first learned quillwork from a student of Alice New Holy of Rosebud Reservation, SD. He is the former Research Interpreter at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls from its opening in 1998 until 2008. Today he contributes to his Facebook group Prairie Material Studies most days during am coffee. This group informally researches and discusses material habits of Native Americans, Anglos, & others from the Southeastern US to the Cascades and beyond. Every day he uses bits of tossed stuff and habits from the past to enhance the future.

Sylvia Smith has been spinning for around 30 years and is currently working her way through the Master Spinner program at Olds College. She teaches spinning and fiber preparation classes at Fiber, in Bigfork, and she's been published in PLY Magazine. She lives in northwest Montana with her husband and cat, with one being an enabler of her fiber pursuits while the other is an occasional obstacle.