​Barbara Tagami

Barbara Tagami is an artist and naturalist with years of experience teaching people of all ages about the wonders of our world and helping them express themselves through nature-inspired art. An accomplished artist in her own right, her ability to inspire others to try new things and get passionate about the outdoors is what brings her to Legacy Learning Boone River Valley as a new teacher for 2015. 

Chad Eells

Chad Eells’ fascination with carving started when he was a small boy messing with tools in his father’s basement shop. He makes wood cut prints, free-standing sculptures, Celtic Green Man, and traditional Swedish Dala horses. He has created small and large 2 and 3 dimensional works that have been featured in homes in central Iowa, and parks in Iowa and Minnesota. Chad teaches carving starting with the basic whittling cuts and he takes learners from small whittling, to 2-dimensional wood cut printing, to working with gouges and mallets with stops along the way to sharpen tools and discuss the properties of native Iowa woods. 

David Raven

Born in Webster City, Iowa, Raven studied at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul Minnesota receiving BFA and MFA degrees in painting. Undergraduate work was completed at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in London, the Art Students League of New York, the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, and the University of Minnesota.

David began competing in regional and national exhibitions in 1964 and has continued to produce and exhibit his award-winning work for the past 50 years. During this period he has taught at several professional art schools in the United States, and exhibited widely in this country and abroad. His work can be found in numerous private and corporate collections.

His art philosophy is based on the study of both traditional and modern master painters. Of particular interest to him is the study of structure and tonality, and the quiet, private areas of both large cities and small towns, and the rich imagery found within these somewhat “invisible, and comonplace” areas.

Currently Raven is living and working in St. Paul Minnesota where he is marketing a new series of paintings, and collaborating with 2 other Minnesota based artists in exhibiting work to art centers and museums around the country. In addition, David is working on a new website featuring his paintings and new giclee prints. 

Deb Leksell

Deb Leksell, retired Hamilton County Treasurer, has been baking for over 50 years. She firmly believes all children should grow up knowing the therapeutic benefits and practical skills of baking, so she has taught all of her grandchildren to bake. Here she is showing brother-in-law Tom (who has never baked) how to make the 4 grain whole wheat bread, offered in the class. Deb is an army brat – travelled all over the world. Aside from 50 years experience, Deb took a semester class on International Cooking at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and years later taught an oriental cooking class at Iowa Central Community College. 

Dee Schnurr

Dee Schnurr is a graduate of the Iowa Central Community College with an AAS in Professional Photography. “I have been a photographer most of my life. After many years of loving photography, and then pursuing it as a career, I try to learn something new every day. I believe that photography can capture and tell a story one frame at a time. I have experience in photojournalism, wedding, senior and family portraits, landscape and commercial, and sports and event photography”. 

Delayne Segar

Delayne Segar began weaving Pine Needle Baskets after taking a class on the craft taught by Nadine Spier of San Diego, California at the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge.  Being an avid painter and sewing enthusiast, Segar found that the weaving of pine needle baskets fused her other interests and provided a new creative outlet. Her baskets have earned several awards in Iowa Artists Regional Shows in the past several years.  Segar finds the beauty of a finished basket to be the main reason to weave. The unique and often free form designs that evolve during the slow weaving process can be surprising. Semi-precious stones are used for the baskets centers and there are endless varieties to choose. Matching these cabochon stones with colored waxed linen thread from Ireland and different weaving techniques makes each basket an individual work of art.  In addition to weaving Pine Needle Baskets, Segar enjoys painting Iowa Farms with old barns being a focus.  She has also studied portraiture with Artist Mary Muller in Des Moines. Dee’s baskets are found at the Blanden’s One of A Kind gift shop in Fort Dodge. 

Di Sinclair

Di is an artist, writer, and wanderer. She loves nature and sharing it with anyone who will come along. She has played with art materials all her life. Now that she has great grandchildren growing in to an age where the fun can begin, she looks for art experiences that she can have with her grandchildren and share with other grandparents. 

Don Wirth

After receiving a BS Recreation and Parks, Don Wirth studied Great Oasis Culture Settlement Patterns in Central Iowa, completing a MA in Anthropology at Iowa State University in 1999. He teaches about environmental issues and restoration at Drake University in Des Moines, as well as anthropology at Des Moines Area Community College. This includes archeology and studies and demonstrations of pre-industrial technological materials. Mr. Wirth also directs his own business, Environmental Horizons, which specializes in environmental and cultural interpretation.

Dorothy Reimers

Dorothy Reimers learned Hardanger from her mother and over the course of years has made hundreds of beautiful items using this craft. She has had her work published in an arts and crafts magazine, and enjoys teaching this to new students to ensure that the craft lives on. She the lives in Ogden, IA and enjoys textile crafts such as Hardanger and quilting. 

Doug Abbott

Doug attributes his affinity and love for nature to childhood experiences, where he spent many self-directed journeys exploring the timber and two creeks on his parents’ land. This “canvas” of land situated in the midst of hardwood timber nestled in the Boone River Valley became a grounding theme throughout his life. His fondest memories include, hunting for deposits of clay in the creek beds to use in his art, mushrooming (aka, hunting for morels), and exploring the seemingly endless canvas of nature. Currently he is a working artist living in Story City, Iowa. He works in a variety of media, including metal and sculpture. He is a 2010 Alumni of United Theological Seminary. Drawing upon his graduate work in Theology and Art, he has a passion for exploring the intersection of nature, art, and personal spiritual practice. He is particularly drawn to the power art has to bring an imagined idea forward into existence. Doug’s work is held in private and institutional collections. 

Gene Winter

Gene was born on a northeast Iowa farm. On the farm, he would work, hunt, and fish. Playing with sticks and strings just came naturally to him in the country environment. Gene was instrumental in establishing the Iowa Bowhunters Association at a time when Iowa legislators were being pressured to remove the bow as a hunting weapon in the state of Iowa. Ten years or so later after noticing that traditional bowhunters were becoming a scarce item at shoots, Gene led the way to the formation of Iowa Traditional Bowhunters Society, which gathers Memorial Day weekend. Gene has taught bowmaking classes for 20+ years all across our great nation! 

Jan David

“Art has been a part of my life since I was three years old. Finger Painting was my first experience in the field of making art. As I grew up nature was a big part of my life and my work today reflects that experience.” Jan majored in fine art and has a BA in Art. She was very fortunate to study with working, exhibiting professional artists. She has continued to create and has been in many juried exhibits and has sold art to collectors in several states. 

Jo Campbell-Amsler

Jo has woven with willow for the last 30 plus years, creating many style and forms of baskets, but specializing in rib-­style basketry. Educating others about willow and basketry is a big part of her work and she teaches at many venues throughout the United States. Hosting basket trips to Ireland and Scotland and working with weavers there, has added to her knowledge and expertise. She recently has been honored by having several of her baskets included in a collection “A Measure of the Earth” at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. 

Laurel Mors

Laurel Mors is a retired prize-winning interior designer. After retiring from designing law offices, businesses and homes she started designing jewelry and hosting craft shows. The craft shows are in the past, but the need to create lives on. 

Linda & Robert Scarth

Linda & Robert Scarth began photographing together early in their marriage. Photography is a portable art form that allows them to explore special habitats and their inhabitants. They share an aesthetic that enables them to express the beauty of the natural world, whether in their own garden or in the wild half way round the world. They do presentations on photography, nature and travel subjects, and mount exhibits in galleries. Examples of their work are found on their web site http://www.scarthphoto.com where they blog about nature and photography. They published Deep Nature: Photographs from Iowa, University of Iowa Press, 2009. 

Marilyn Anderson

Marilyn Anderson studied architecture and art/craft design at Iowa State University and has been spinning, dyeing and weaving for over 35 years, specializing in custom rug weaving. Fiber sheared from her own Angora goats and Llamas is often incorporated in her projects. She has show and sold her work at various art festivals in Iowa and Minnesota and is a past-president of the Ames Area Weavers Guild. ​

Maureen Powers

Maureen Powers is a graduate of Hawkeye Institute of Technology and is an Adjunct Faculty Member there as well as serving as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Directors. She has received both her Master of Photography and Craftsman Degrees from the Professional Photographers of America. During her career she has been in the Top Ten Photographers of Iowa, named Top Photographer of Iowa and Top Master Photographer of Iowa, received Kodak Gallery Awards and has 11 prints in the Traveling Loan Collection. She has been a speaker in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska and the Professional Photographers National Convention. Maureen currently owns Buckroyd Studio in Fort Dodge, Iowa a full service portrait/commercial studio and Powers Photography and Design, a wall decor company offering fine art images and framing.
Her favorite quote is by Henri Matisse:
“There is nothing more difficult for a painter than to paint a rose. Because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”

Maureen Seamonds

Maureen recently retired is a Professor and Art Department Coordinator at Iowa Central Community College and has also taught Design, Ceramics, and Sculpture at Iowa State University and Drake University. She has a B.A in Art Education and an M.A in Art and Design from Iowa State University, and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of Iowa.   She owns and works at The Produce Station Pottery and Ice House Gallery on historic Seneca Street in Webster City. There are currently three artists working in the studios and several more artists showing their work in the gallery. She has exhibited works throughout the U.S. 

Mike Krebill

Mike retired from 35 years of teaching seventh grade science in Iowa and Michigan, much to the chagrin of parents who were hoping their son or daughter would have him for a teacher. A naturalist and nature center director before becoming a teacher, Mike was famous for getting kids outdoors, and for teaching science research skills by experimenting with wild foods. Honors include Michigan Science Teacher of the Year, Michigan Environmental Educator of the Year, Keokuk (Iowa) Teacher of the Year, and being inducted into the National Wild Foods Association Hall of Fame. He has served as vice president and newsletter editor of Iowa’s Prairie States Mushroom Club and is an occasional contributor to the Iowa Outdoors magazine. Mike is well known in the Midwest Wild Edibles & Foragers Society, a Facebook group, where he answers questions, identifies plants and mushrooms, and provides experienced-based insights on harvesting, processing, preparing, and storing edible wild plants. 

Pam Dennis & Ryk Weiss

They began decades ago building willow furniture and baskets, leading to feature articles and commissions for Better Homes and Gardens. This folk art evolved from functional to fine art wall pieces combining willow, pitfired or raku clay, and copper. They marketed at high end art festivals nationally for 25 years, winning many awards, as well as teaching numerous workshops.

With Pam on the IAC Artists in the Schools roster 20+ years, Ryk joins her conducting 6-8 residencies per year that culminate in a permanent work for each community. Also on the Public Artists Roster, they have collaborated on larger public projects the last 10 years beginning with “Vision Sculpture Park” for the Blanden Museum- six willow horses and riders based on Marino Marini’s work. Others include installations such as the “Moby Dick Garden Seascape” at Reiman Gardens (ISU) in 2008. Murals such as the Wetzler Memorial Tree at the Boone County Hospital (2012) are built on metal frames, incorporating permanent materials to withstand the Iowa winters. Their latest mural project was selected for Reiman Gardens “Iowa Naturally” 2013 exhibit. 

Peggie Wilcox

Formerly of the Jewell and Stanhope, Iowa, areas, Peggie Wilcox now lives in Lakemont, GA in 2009 where she has her studio.  She specializes in making miniature baskets and has won many regional awards for her work.  She travels all over the United States to teach basket making for guilds, conferences and Art and Craft schools. Her work has been included in an exhibition at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC in October, 2013.

Peggie says, “The plant materials I use are renewable, sustainable, non-toxic, beautifully colored and some are extremely fragrant. They hold unending fascination and inspiration for me and continue to challenge me even after 28 year of working with them. My seasonal rituals of gathering and processing my plant materials are an integral part of each basket I make and every class I teach.”

Richard “Dick” Hanson

Richard has a BA in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa and an MA in Painting from Minnesota State University. Hanson currently is an Adjunct Professor of Art at Iowa Central Community College. Return to the top.

Sharon Cline

Sharon Cline is a retired chemist that enjoys making quilts that are made to be used. She has been creating quilts for over ten years, and has a passion for traditional pieced quilts. She gets excited when a new marketplace tool improves one’s ability to create “perfect” blocks without being perfect! The pattern is only a guideline…quilts are made to be your own!

Tim Adams

Tim Adams has an MA in Landscape Architecture from the College of Design, Iowa State University. He owns and operates Stony Creek Landscapes and creates award-winning sculptures for gardens and parks throughout the region. Return to the top.

Yvonne McCormick

Yvonne McCormick is the Horticulture Assistant at Iowa State Extension and Outreach, Master Gardener, and owner of Farmhouse Kitchen & Gardens.

She grows fresh flowers, herbs and garden plants and creates unique garden decor for the home and garden and sells it in her shop, Chicken Coop Creations. She also offers a fine selection of specialty cakes, cookies, & bars, all home-baked from scratch using only premium, high-quality ingredients.

Yvonne combines her knowledge the time honored traditions with her expertise in plant materials to provide this exciting class for Legacy Learning, Boone River Valley just in time for the holidays!