Cultural Community: Cowboy Traditional Arts
Artform: Western Hatmaking
Residence: Southwestern Idaho

Bio: For 35 years—ever since he was a kid growing up around the cattle ranches near the Fort Hall Indian Reservation—Randy has been making western hats. And that is where he discovered their individuality. Over time, a hatter’s own work acquires a signature style as recognizable as that of a famous painter. While in high school in Blackfoot, Idaho, he began buying hats at thrift stores, taking them apart and rebuilding them. Later he worked in a couple of hat stores, and in 1973, opened the Priest Hat Company in Challis. He now owns and operates the Silver-Tip Hat Company, a local landmark in Donnelly. Randy’s work is well known and respected, sought out by visitors and collectors. One of only 40 or 50 traditional felt hatters still in the craft, he was recommended for a Governor’s Arts Award by Donnelly’s mayor as “an extraordinary traditional artist and an Idaho treasure worthy of recognition.”

Honors/Awards: 2010, Master, Idaho Commission on the Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
2010, Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Folk and Traditional Arts

For Services Offered, Availability, and Costs, please contact the artist.

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