About Us

Rich Howe

I live in Chicago. As an American who was educated in Canada, I have a real love for that country. I'm a college administrator by day and a philosophy professor by night. I'm a friend of Judy Kavanagh and a devoted collector of native arts and crafts as well as an admirer of their cultures. Like Judy, I love the wilderness and animals, especially cats. Unlike Judy, I lack the skills to make moccasins and birchbark canoes.

I started collecting native arts and crafts as a kid. About four years ago I realized I had no native snowshoes. I dove into that area head-first. I now have 64 pair of native-made snowshoes, some old, some new.

I began educating myself about snowshoes by reading two great books: The Snow Walker's Companion by Garrett and Alexandra Conover and Making the Attikamek Snowshoe by Henri Vaillancourt. I continued my education by talking with native elders from Newfoundland to Alaska. I think I also found the only native snowshoe maker in the lower 48 states. Of course, I go snowshoeing every chance I get.

Judy has been kind enough to put photos of some of my snowshoes, as well as her own, on her web site. We will be adding more. Sometimes I end up with an extra pair and I will offer them for sale as reasonable prices to those of you who are interested. I will put up as much information as I can with each photo. Meanwhile look at the photos and enjoy these beautiful works of art!

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Judy Kavanagh

What is there to say about me? By day I am a mild-mannered web designer in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The rest of the time I turn into an artist, musician and mother of 4 cats.

Seriously, my education is in languages and computers and I have far too many degrees than are good for me. Okay, I like learning stuff. I used to work as a freelance photographer but now I work with computers.

I have been interested in making traditional crafts for a while, starting with quilting and moving on to moccasin making and beadwork, basket making, hide tanning, birchbark canoe building and rug hooking. I also like to play the piano and I'm learning the violin. I have been snowshoeing since I was a child.

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