Aug. 23, 2026
Featured Members: Jim Linnell and JaNeil Anderson
Jim Linnell, leathercraft educator and artist
Jim Linnell is an American leathercraft educator and artist. Over decades, Linnell has helped shape how leathercraft is taught in the United States, particularly through instructional patterns, in-store classes, and print publications from Tandy Leather, and later through large-scale digital education via the Elktracks Studio website. According to LearnLeathercraft.com, "His work is widely associated with clarity, practicality, and an emphasis on teaching fundamentals in ways that are approachable without being simplistic."
He has received some of the most prestigious awards in the leatherworking industry, including the Al Stohlman Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Master Leather Artisan Award from the Academy of Western Artists.
He continues to teach many classes and workshops -- including classes in Alaska, Ohio, and Texas this month alone. He has a special showing coming up at WaterWorks Art Museum in Miles City, Montana Oct. 2 to Nov. 12, together with two other artists.
JaNeil Anderson, oil painter
JaNeil Anderson paints the lives of working cowboys, working cowgirls, their children, and their animals. First-hand experience with gathering and branding on cattle ranches in the Southwest is shown in her work.
She is a Signature Member of American Women Artists, poster artist for Las Fiesta De Los Vaqueros Pro Rodeo in Tucson (2014), and poster artist for the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering (2021). In 2022, JaNeil received the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Rounders Award, given each year to select New Mexicans who live, promote, and articulate the western way of life.