SigMT

18 | SIGNATURE MONTANA Marge Taylor's medium, on the other hand, is leather, and her inspiration is the ranching world she grew up in near Jordan, Montana. She's been immersed in rodeo and western design ever since. In 1951, at the age of nineteen, she started a leather business making chaps for rodeo cowboys, working cowboys, and horse enthusiasts. At the same time, Marge was making paerns for saddle pants and raising four children. Today, Leather Legends is known for handmade clothing, home decor, leather chaps, and collectible Angora chaps. e recipient of numerous awards, Marge's designs have been displayed in the Cowboy Hall of Fame, seen at presidential inaugurations, and worn by rodeo queens, cuing competitors, and champion cowboys, but what may mean the most is seeing her work worn by working cowhands. Livingston resident Brad Greenwood has been working with wood since he was a boy, learning alongside his dad as they carved duck decoys, refinished furniture, and repaired household items. His designs combine any variety of reclaimed metal and multiple hardwoods, high-relief and three-dimensional carving or sculpting, hand tooling, metal-smithing, and vintage materials. In every piece, he places a signature copper-leaf inlay. Over many years, he has delighted By Western Hands audiences with pieces incorporating working pulleys, arcade games, secret compartments, Old West dioramas, and animatronics, like his Save the Ranger shooting game, which tasks players with saving park rangers from rampaging grizzlies. He's created western-themed nut dispensers using whimsically transformed vintage machines, and he'll incorporate cast-off farm implements into standing lamps. But in many of Brad's pieces, especially his live-edge book- matched walnut tables, simplicity reigns, and he allows the beauty of the wood to speak for itself. Steve Henneford's handmade Lazy Chaise Rocker shows the influence of legendary American furniture maker Sam Maloof. Ten pieces of wood were cut into thin strips, glued together in the order they were cut, then clamped onto a form to make the rocker. (Repeating the process using the same form creates two identical rockers, without which the rockers would 'walk' across the room when rocking.) Several coats of a hand-rubbed oil finish highlight the unique grain and color of each chair. DECADENT DESIGN A home outside Cody, Wyoming, features the work of a number of different By Western Hands artists and is anchored by a suite of contemporary Molesworth-inspired applied-pole furniture handcrafted by artisans John Gallis of Norseman Designs West and Anne Beard. The different elements combine to create a uniquely Western interior that speaks to its place in the West. Photo credit: Kevin Kinzle

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