About GWC Makers

Genuine Wallowa County is proud to carry products from NE Oregon and Nez Perce makers! Each gift box we send is lovingly packed with these bios, so your recipients can connect with the items (Inland NW Gallery items are shipped directly from their studios).

Click on photos/logos to visit makers' websites (when available).

 

Ralph Anderson is a self-proclaimed “Geezer”—retired U.S. Forest Service—who carves utensils and other interesting objects from quaking aspen and other wood, while shaded up at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland site (Tamkaliks), often in the dance arbor. The wood is sustainably harvested from stand-thinning (allowing the growth of bigger trees); the bark is used for dyeing wool and the poles for whittlings. 

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Arrowhead Chocolates started as a family business and recently transferred ownership to Jerry and Tracy Ivy and their daughter and son-in law, Sylvanna and Chad Dotson. The Arrowhead team makes chocolates in small batches, by hand, with an emphasis on the highest quality ingredients, beautiful presentation, and ethical sourcing and sustainability. 

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Kristy Athens is the owner of Good Groceries and any time she has a spare moment she is making a weird, irreverent collage artwork of some sort under the moniker ithaka literary ephemera. 

 

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Mariah Blackhorse is the creator of Lost Prairie Designs: Inspired by the endless variety of colors and patterns in earth elements, as well as the connection she feels when working with natural materials such as feathers and bone, she combines this natural beauty into unique items that are also grounding and healing on many levels. 

 

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David Brunkow began his photography business in 1980, and has photographed everything from blushing brides to the highest-level sports to corporate events for some of the largest companies in the world. These days, David is devoting more time to the art of photography. From capturing the initial image to producing fine art prints and ceramic art, he has maintained a hands-on approach. 

 

  

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Operating from a fourth-generation ranch at the base of the beautiful Wallowa Mountains, Carman Ranch Provisions focuses on ranching practices that restore the soil, respect the animals, build sustainable businesses in our rural community, and grow nutrient-dense and delicious food. Cory Carman and her team seek lasting change on the land, in their community and in the food system. These practices result in a unique quality and complexity of grass-fed beef. 

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Janis Carper is an artist and music-maker who has enjoyed living and creating in Wallowa County since 2001. She loves roaming in the woods and poking around piles of old junk, drawing much inspiration for her art from the natural world. 

 

 

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Leigh Dawson came to Wallowa County in 1978 as a Forest Service employee, and never left. She made each of her children a stick horse, which they rode everywhere and still cherish. Now a grandmother, Leigh wants to bring back toys that encourage imagination and creative play. 

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Janet Hohmann says she has always liked to make things! She got interested in wool a few years ago, and enjoys using the animals around her as inspiration for her creations. 

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All of Kathy Hunter’s stories have been pretested by Wallowa County kids, many of whom know her from the years of Fishtrap Storytime on local radio station KWVR. A 14-year old artist designed her CD covers, and Wallowa kids feature as animal characters. Locals Janis Carper, Henry Kinsley, and Robert Webb mastered the sound for these truly local  products. 

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Kiyomi Koike started Sei Mee Tea as a family business in 2004 (it’s pronounced “say-me-tea” and means “pure beauty” in Japanese). Her passionate journey started when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She began experimenting with green tea, and was thrilled when he was declared “cancer-free” five years later. Sei Mee Tea’s all-woman staff takes pride and joy in helping their customers achieve their health goals holistically. 

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Todd Kruger has been river-guiding with Winding Waters since 2005. His background includes working with troubled youth and as a master craftsman. He runs Twig, which produces functional items from recycled materials. 

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Debbie Lind has been a photographer for more than 45 years. Her education has come from workshops, books, mentors, and her own photographic and digital experimentation. Her creative inspirations begin with connection to images of the natural world, and oftentimes she use fractals to push and further shape her creative visions. 

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Beth and Garrett Lowe of Timber Bronze are "just two kids in our mid-50s who are looking to timelessly link nature and art through our unique bronze process. Beth brings levelheadedness and style, while Garrett brings creativity and passion. We consider it an honor to help clients bring their specific ideas to life and turn those ideas into art—art that can be passed on for generations." 

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Dustin Lyons learned to make Renaissance-style handmade shoes in Ashland, Oregon, and then he put a root down in Joseph. When not on the road selling Alkahest Leather products at festivals, you can find Dustin nestled in the mountains, hammering away in his shop in the woods. 

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Angela Mart is an occupational therapist by day, and president of the Wallowa Mountains Bicycle Club on the side. She launched Mountain Woman Fire Starter as a creative outlet, and a fun way for people to get their wood stoves and camp fires lit. Adding to her enjoyment of wandering around in the woods, Angela gathers the tree bark and other elements from the Wallowa Mountains where she runs, backpacks, XC skis, mountain bikes, and calls home. 

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Lauren McBurney (left) and Annie Rose Miller (right) write: "It all started when we were 8 years old. We set up a lemonade stand, and fell in love with entrepreneurship. We decided to create a clothing business, which flopped. We then tried jewelry, which also flopped. Finally we attempted lip balm. Our first recipe was too hard, so we kept trying new recipes and we now have the product that we do today, which leaves your lips as smooth as butter. We are Lo & Ro." 

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Joseph Creek Coffee is owned and operated by Scott and Michelle McDonald in Enterprise. They have had a love of coffee since before they were married—they shared their love of coffee with early morning coffee dates while engaged, and have had a morning cup together ever since. Scott began roasting coffee at home in 2012 and has developed his craft year by year. 

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Val Nesemann began teaching art classes for students from kindergarten through 12th grade in the Wallowa School District in 1984, and worked with them for 20 years. The first versions of her articulated, re-positionable figures were made by elementary students from discarded file folders and brass fasteners. Each uniquely decorated “Go Figure” is now made of magnetic sheeting, which allows anyone to play on the fridge or file cabinet. 

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“Iinim wenỉikt wées k’uusnim qicxnew’eet soyapoo wenỉikt wées Stacia Morfin. Welcome. My Indian name is Takes Care of Water, my given name is Stacia Morfin.” As a citizen of the Nez Perce Nation and owner of Nez Perce Tourism, LLC, Stacia’s vision is to unite all people with an integrated approach to intercultural understanding. Nez Perce Tourism works with Nimiipuu artists including Amy Wilson and David Branas, Raneisha Running, Melvina Killscrow, and Stephen Corpuz and Natasha Longie of The Quilled Path. 

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Raylene O'Connor was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but feels right at home in Wallowa County. After her husband said, "You must see eastern Oregon" for the 100th time, they decided to visit. "You're right!" she said. "I love this place.” And the process to relocate from Alaska began. In her free time Raylene enjoys knitting and felting her Knifty Bags or recycling wool into Spare Hearts. 

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Lynne Nielsen Price started Sacred Salve Company in 2009, but she has been making her Ancient Tree-sap Salve using a family recipe, which lore credits to Native Americans and Lynne’s French Canadian ancestors, for decades. Three of the salve’s five ingredients come from Wallowa County, as do the cottonwood buds that become her Cottonwood Salve.  

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Tera Ptacek grew up in Minnesota with a passion to see the world and other cultures. All through her 20s, living in Alaska and traveling the world, she explored much! Reaching a point of wanting to put some roots in the ground, Tera and her former partner moved to Wallowa County and started a leather-working business. Tera feels right at home here, having fallen in love with the landscape and community. Now adventuring on her own, Tera is starting fresh with her own leather biz, LiminaL Leather. 

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Kolle Kahle Riggs moved back to Wallowa County in 2018 to carry on her family tradition of making neat things out of rocks and sticks. She also attempts to intercept that sublime light that seems to be just perfect in Lostine. Also, she likes birds and mushrooms, and plants; mostly huckleberries. 

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Annie Robinson moved to Wallowa County in 1999 and formed Annie’s Southfork Silverworks, named after the Lostine River (the “Southfork”), soon after. Annie fabricates jewelry that highlights the beauty of her materials. She chooses stones and shells that catch the eye, which she believes is the inherent function of adornment. Using designs and themes that echo the stunning natural world around her, Annie tries to make the world a little more beautiful every day with her jewelry designs. 

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Theresa Stangel comes from a long line of farmers and ranchers who migrated from north central Oregon to their current location, Enterprise, in 1958. All of Stangel's animals are born, raised, and harvested on their ranch in the beautiful Wallowa Valley. Through out their lives, the bison enjoy time between pastures that are located on "the Slope" and in "the hills" of Wallowa County. When the animals have reached the age for the highest quality product, the harvesting process begins.  

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Born in 2009 in Joseph, Stein Distillery is a family-run operation that maintains attention to detail from grain growth to harvest, and through fermenting, distilling, barreling, aging, filtering, and bottling. Every step is done by hand, producing the highest quality rye vodka, bourbon, rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, corn whiskey, barrel-aged rum and fruit cordials. From our grain to your glass! 

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Mikailah Thompson is a Nez Perce tribal member who was taught how to bead by her grandmother, Chloe Halfmoon. Mikailah says beadwork is an art form that holds importance within many native communities: “It's more than just jewelry or accessories. Many of us have beadwork that our great-grandparents made or that our ancestors had. When you receive it, it's supposed to last for generations and continue to be passed down. And this is one of the key reasons I am passionate as I am about my work."