Ever since our granddaughter found a blue turquoise fetish of a buffalo among our studio treasures and called it a "blue cow" we have operated under that name: "Blue Cow Jewelry and Beads". In the early nineties we sold beading and Pow Wow supplies and started making jewelry out of our store in Wyoming. Since we moved to Vancouver Island seven years ago,we have ,drawing on design courses taken earlier in life, concentrated on creating pieces that are elegant, distinctive but also have a spiritual dimension. By combining a high level of craftsmanship, sophisticated color combinations and a rich variety of natural and ethnic materials we make pieces that are stunning and unique. We use semi-precious stones such as turquoise, carnelian, coral ,amber and pearls. We combine these with ethnic finds collected on our travels, such as :Tibetan pendants, West African beads, and Ethiopian Coptic crosses. The result is pleasing to the eye and the body.

contact: realcricket@live.com

It is with respect that Johnny pays tribute to all the great photographers throughout the ages who captured expression and a time with their camera lens. Thus allowing artists like Johnny to re-interpret the many wonderful faces of our tribal people of yesterday and today. "History lies but faces do not."

"You can never take credit for a gift, but you can honor it and in honoring it I pay homage to my late mother Jill and her father's ancestral roots of the Alberta plains."
Johnny was born and raised in Toronto Ontario, where his mother would tell him stories of her First Nations father from the Alberta plains. Johnny's inner voice would always pull him towards this lineage. His illustrating was always a form of therapy as a youth retreating inwards from an outside world of addiction and violence. It was not until much later as a man in 2002, when he was forced to re-evaluate his life's path. He sought the counsel of an elder who's words were not forgotten. The elder explained how our bodies become ill when we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing. He told Johnny, " The longest walk you'll ever make is from you head to your heart, stop listening to your head and start listening to your heart." This was the beginning of Johnny's journey.

Gathering of Nations

Verlyn Busch

Owner operator of DOUBLE BAR TACK & LEATHER. Growing up in the early 50's, just south of a small town in Saskatchewan we had to be a Jack of All Trades.I learned at a very early age to sew by watching my Grandmother and mother sewing nearly every day on their treddle machines.
Growing up on a mixed farm with grain and cattle, I had to learn to keep all our horse tack and harness in good repair.
I learned to make our own ropes by using hemp baler twine. With 200 hudred head of cattle we went through a fair amount of rope on our place.
As the years went by I moved on to do other jobs in my life time but have always been drawn back to my roots of driving cattle and cowboying. I enjoy working with leather and producing custom items that you just can't find in most places.

contact: dbtack@shaw.ca