Hand-tooled leather designs distinguish this traditional Western-saddle sofa by Ernie Apodaca.

Twelve years later, the Western Design Conference in Cody, Wyo., is one of the richest of its kind, with more than 130 artists vying for 60 juried exhibition spots, and collectors routinely dropping tens of thousands of dollars for that one-of-a-kind piece.

The show takes place the third week in September and includes a ball, fashion show, auction and design seminars. Collectors of Western art come from as far as Belgium, and craftsmen come from all over the country, bringing leather-clad armoires and elaborately carved desks, custom sheepwagons and handcrafted pool tables. One year, there was even a custom casket maker.

Among those artists and craftspeople are a chosen few from Washington. Here, we talk to them about their art, and how life in this land of mountain, sea and high desert inspires their work.

Ernie Apodaca; Northwest Native Designs; Snohomish; 800-322-3599

In 1999, the first year Ernie Apodaca showed his work at the Western Design Conference, he took to Cody a sofa illustrating the Alaskan Tlingit myth of how the sun, moon and stars came to be. He traveled to the conference, he says, "Proud and on a cloud of my own." Until he walked inside.

Right: Lamps by Cloudbird feature cow-rawhide shades and hand-forged metal bases made to her specifications. She brings all the elements together with decorative detail, including delicate beadwork in contrasting colors and leather braiding around the post and edges of the shade. Above: Patterned after actual fence lines, this James Ferrara buffet includes fencepost legs complete with a Spanish winch (for tightening fences). Embossed and punched-tin doors open to reveal pullout shelves. Tumbleweeds, grass and rock were used for accents. Below: The pine and fir console/sofa table by James Ferrara features corrugated-tin door inserts.		COURTESY OF RIC IRIBARREN

"When I got in through the doors, I was totally intimidated by the class of the show. It's the best of the best, not only in craftsmanship but in uniqueness."

Apodaca need not have worried. He sold the sofa, wood ends carved in totems, buttersoft leather seat, arms and cushions painted with mythical characters, for $9,000.

Since then, he's moved his workshop from a garage to a gallery in Snohomish, where he turns out doeskin leather sofas and chairs lined with feathers, framed in alder and cushioned in supersoft foam. They come with fringes and conchos, in chenille and Italian suede, hand-tooled, carved, painted — and with price tags bigger than those on some used cars. A matching sofa and loveseat sell for $7,000.

"I used to be able to count the orders on my hands," Apodaca says. "Now they're coming so fast I'm having a hard time keeping up."

Thome George; SweetTree Rustic; Winthrop; 509-997-7910

Thome George likes to think his work falls somewhere between poetry and architecture — both subjects he studied at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.

"The main thing about writing poetry," says George, "is that each poet has a refined sense of the words they like to use. You are picking and choosing between the words you will and won't use. My medium happens to be wood."

	Ernie and Wendy Apodaca of Northwest Native Designs have spent more than 25 years in the upholstery business. Their hand-built furniture features unique designs that celebrate the West, especially Native American themes. Ernie calls this piece a Bonanza-style oversize armchair.

And it is the wood — almost solely from the Northwest — that defines George's work.

"I use water birch, hazel, Saskatoon. I use filbert and apple whips. My favorite is tamarac. All of those things are from right around me. I have color and quality unique to this area. The birch grows better here than anywhere in the West. I attribute that to the maritime weather that makes it over the mountains.

His twig chairs and tables reflect a lifelong love of the West that reveals itself in details of epaulets and fringe, badge shapes and bronze nails. Those are the poetics. His architectural training dictates that the work also be functional.

"I set out to build a chair that was comfortable to sit in for an extended period of time. It became a challenge to figure out how the body fits the chair . . . I call it 'the ahhh factor.' If they sit down and go 'Ahhh,' you've won. If they sit down and say something like, 'Umph,' you didn't."

Prices for George's chairs start at $1,500.

James Ferrara, Terry Hagelauer; Ferrara Design, Inc.; Port Ludlow; 888-545-4836

Brought up in the Skagit Valley, James Ferrara says, "I'm basically a country boy." But he has also logged time in the city. The result is furniture that doesn't easily fit the conventional mold. As he puts it, "My intent is to be different than the normal concept of Western furniture but still have a Western flavor to it."

Ferrara came to his craft after years as a set designer, a job that often required him to create what he needed. "Through that, people kept saying to me, 'You've got to sell this stuff,' so here I am."

COURTESY OF WESTERN DESIGN CONFERENCE
"It's as if that table is walking," says Thome George of this piece. The legs and "mane" of water-birch twigs flow back and out to suggest movement; the top is broadleaf maple — a "mill fletch" created when the knobby outer parts of a log are sheared off to get to the smooth wood used for planks. The "fletchling" following its 27-inch "mother" is just about 6 inches high.

His furniture comes painted in bright colors, with embossed tin and in upholstered leather — often reflecting his combined Native American and Swedish heritage.

His partner, Terry Hagelauer, finishes the work with stain or paint, choosing colors appropriate for regional tastes. "In the Northwest, everyone likes the red and black."

Their signature piece is The Taos. "Normally, it's about 18 inches high and has four little drawers for jewelry," he says. "I've made it 6 1/2 feet tall for entertainment centers and dressers."

The couple's work ranges in price from $75 to $4,000.

Cloudbird; Dancing Light Lamps; Twisp; 509-997-2348; www.dancinglightlamps.com.

Had it not been for a few solar panels, Cloudbird might never have come to the craft that has earned her honors in Western design.

"I went from the kerosene age to the solar age, and I had a need of electric lamps. I started looking at lamps and didn't like them," she explains. "So, I had a vision and I maintained it until I accomplished all the skills to do it. That is to bead, to leather braid and to make a rawhide lampshade."

Today, Cloudbird works with three blacksmiths who hammer out her designs for the bases she pairs with her rawhide shades. The lamps sell for $1,500 to $4,500.

From the beginning, she says, "I felt I was making things to be revered in the way making a knife or a stone blade would be a revered thing. These aren't just consumer items. We look at a Native artifact and we call it artwork, but these were things that were essential to their lives. They served a purpose."

For more information on this year's Western Design Conference, Sept. 18-21, call 888-685-0574 or check out the Web site at: www.westd.org.

Lori Tobias is a freelance writer living in Newport, Ore. Barry Wong is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.