Member Directory
Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi Members
Search our Member Directory by name or medium (Metal, Ceramics, Glass, Mixed Media, Wood, Fiber). Or, scroll down the page to browse our Members.
About Us
We are makers on a mission to preserve and promote, educate and encourage, the highest standard of excellence in regional crafts.
The work of our Members reflects a high degree of competence, professional standards, and artistry in their medium and category. Eligibility is determined by a jury review process which takes place twice each year.
Debie Deaton
I have spent my life the South beginning in Mississippi with a few yeas in Texas on my way to Arkansas where I’ve lived since the early 1990’s. I’m fortunate to have traveled to many amazing places, the the South will always be my home.
Fiber, clay wood and paint are the tools i use to bring form to the people and places my imagination. Texture and color strongly influence my work. My memory doesn’t include a time i wasn’t creating something. Art is a part of who I am. The goal of my art is that the viewer will experience. If only for a moment, the joy of childhood.
I’ve spent my life in the South, beginning in Mississippi with a few years in Texas on my way to Arkansas where I have lived since the early 1990’s. I am fortunate to have traveled to many amazing places, but the South will always be my home.
Fiber, clay, wood and paint are the tools I use to bring form to the people and places of my imagination. Texture and color strongly influence my work. My memory doesn’t include a time when I was not creating something. Art is part of who I am. The goal of my art is that the viewer will experience, if only for a moment, the joy of childhood
Debby DeLashmet
Debbie has worked in glass for approximately 30 years - first on stained glass, for which she has won numerous awards and then in fused glass. She has taught numerous classes and demonstrations at various galleries and venue sites. She currently is more involved in fused glass.
Jackson, MS
Glass
Guild member since 2006
Fellow since 2016
Marilyn Diehl Basket Cottage
Marilyn Diehl Basket Cottage
Mt. Olive, MS
Fiber: Baskets
Guild member since 2008
Marilyn learned how to make baskets from her nephew, Roger. In 2002, she bought and moved his basket shop to its current location in Mt. Olive, Mississippi. Her baskets are made from natural rattan reed and the handles are made from hickory. She uses natural products such as pecan and black walnut shells for her dyes. Her baskets have been featured in Southern Living, Our South magazine, and Oak Street magazine. Marilyn has baskets to people from all over the world- including Italy and Germany.
David Dill
David loved building and creating from a young age, from legos to spending time in his grandfather’s woodshop. This evolved as he got older, helping his parents work on various DIY projects around the house. He went on to study Architecture in college, but leaned towards the design build aspect. David says his grandfather had an extensive Fine Woodworking Magazine collection and he began reading those as well to gain more knowledge in building furniture. In 2011, David began a design build firm, d+p Design Build, LLC, with a friend. He likes to blend modern with organic aesthetics, with each piece challenging himself to be a better crafts person.
“I approach making furniture for people the same way an architect designs a building. Most projects start with a need, i.e. a table or chair. I then sketch the idea and make a 3D computer drawing. If it is something that I have not done before, I will make a prototype. Once the client and I are happy with the design, I then make the real thing always allowing for tweaks to happen until it is completed. My inspiration comes from exploring contrasts and how they interact. I love how different materials can coexist with each other; how two different woods look together. Or using the organic live edge of a slab of wood with the straight lines of modern furniture.” - David
Special Honors:
Made in Mississippi Podcast - S4E9 - November 2018
Studio Jackson: Creative Culture in the Mississippi Capital' - November 4th, 2014
Madison MS
Wood
Guild member since 2023
Joseph Eckles
Joseph Eckles
Hernando, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2002
Joseph believes in the importance of combining beauty and purpose. In all of his functional pottery, he tries to create a design that is both visually appealing and able to stand up to daily use. Many of his designs are influenced by places where he has lived, especially Japan. All of his pottery is produced in the traditional way of wheel thrown, slab or hand formed materials. He uses some custom tools that he has made, and he custom blends all his glazes from raw materials. He is always experimenting with new glazes, glaze washes and slips.
Joy Ellis
Ridgeland, MS
Guild Member since 2021
I started pressing flowers years ago, but only in the last few years after retirement have begun to turn them into an art form. First, I grow most of the flowers I use but occasionally collect along backroads and in wildflower fields. After I collect them , I use several methods to press each type of flower. I began pressing with books and magazines, which is convenient when collection along the roadside. Then I discovered a process using a microwave. I use a press called the Microfleur. This gives you almost instant gratification with flowers, usable within a short period of time. Care must be taken to process each type of flower individually so as to not to burn or discolor them. The flowers are very fragile at this point and require much care in storing them and turning them into art.
I have also studied to old way of using a flower press. We constructed the one I am currently using. It takes more patience and time to dry most flowers, up to 2 weeks. It requires changing the blotting material daily to ensure that the flowers don’t mold or become unusable.
I have studied the works of several artist in the World Wide Pressed Flowers Guild . Then I developed my own technique and continue to learn through my experience and as other pressed flowers artist share their talents.
Willis Bradley "Jake" Evans, Jr.
Willis Bradley "Jake" Evans, Jr.
Herbert, LA
Metal / Jewelry
Guild member since 2016
Robert Faulkner
Robert Faulkner
Aberdeen, MS
Wood / Furniture and Rings
Guild member since 2008
Rob has been a professional and dedicated craftsman in wood for over 30 years. He believes in simplicity in design and in construction, in using simple lines, and in using traditional proportions which builders have used for centuries to create structures of endearing style. Rob adapts designs from pictures or photographs of a piece that he finds visually appealing. “I often see a particular leg shape, a curve to an edge, or some other shape that I will try to incorporate into a design.” Even though he has worked with some very expensive, exotic species of wood, such as the Purple Heart, he always returns to woods that are native to Mississippi, those that he sees daily as he walks through the country. He especially likes to make pieces using wood taken from family property, knowing that it will passed down through future generations.
Susan Fincher
Susan Fincher
Pensacola, FL (office only)
Metal / Jewelry: Guild member since 2013
Mixed Media / Jewelry: Guild member since 2017
Susan’s work is eclectic and includes many styles. She enjoys the freedom to try new methods, materials, and styles. Susan believes that her work is different from that of others because she doesn’t have a favorite metal or a preference between traditional metalsmithing and metal clay work. In fact, she enjoys combining those materials and methods – even with a single piece of jewelry. Her primary influence is nature, and she tries to use more environmentally friendly methods and products in her work, with leaves and shell motifs making regular appearances.
Kent Follette
Kent Follette
Gonzales, LA
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 1985
Kent and his later to be wife, Libby, met a long, long time ago in art school. When asked about their lifetimes as artists, they replied, “We started our ‘Big Adventures Program’ of love, kids, and making art, and we are still at it to this day. We work on love continuously, family, spoiling the grandchild, and the art just about 24/7. We grew up in homes where life revolved around the kitchen and the dinner table. Food, family, and friends were our main sustenance, so it was only natural that our pottery became an extension of our love of cooking and family celebration.”
Dr. Ed Ford
Ed Ford teaches art at William Carey University and has been an artist all his life. He received his bachelor’s degree in art in 1984, his masters in art history in 1988, and his doctorate in art history in 2002. In addition to his academic career, he has thirty years of experience as a commercial artist. He specializes in illustration, graphic design, and animation, which he currently teaches along with art history. Lately he has added wood carving and pyrography to his skill set. His ventures with pyrography began in 2015 with his discovery that wood burners can have heat control. This allows him to draw with a wide range of tones, so wood burnings could be like drawings in pencil or charcoal. He found that the medium could express in ways different from any other he had used. He also feels that, compared to other materials, there appears to be something more profound and timeless about an image burned into wood.
Madison, MS
Wood
Guild member since 2015
Judy Foster
Judy is a winner of the Handweavers Guild of America state Judge’s Award, the Cotton Clouds 100% Cotton Award, and the Silver Shuttle Award of Merit. All of the steps in the process of creating her handwoven evening jackets and other articles are done by Judy, prototype design work, yard selection, warping and dressing the loom, weaving the cloth, finishing the cloth, construction and finishing the jackets. Her works can be seen in several churches in the Jackson area and in private collections in more than a dozen states.
“I had journeyed through many fiber-related crafts: sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc, but when I first sat down at a loom, I knew I had 'come home'. I studied with a Guild member for several years before applying for membership, and my weaving career has challenged me to continually strive to learn. I have taken classes locally and at Arrowmont and Penland schools. I have woven and marketed placemats, table runners, rugs, afghans, shawls, clothing and thousands of scarves. Now I am approaching the end of my active weaving, and I owe my career to the support I have received through my nearly 40-year membership in the Craftsmens Guild.” - Judy
Madison, MS
Fiber
Guild member since 1983
Fellow since 1993
Angela Foster
Angela Foster
Angela Foster is a Pyrography artist. The works created are either plain hand burned creations or created incorporating epoxy and other natural elements. Angela is also a long time member of the Ms Painters Society and the International Association of Astronomical Artists. Astrophotography of the night sky in MS is also a passion when not creating her wood burned art.
Her award winning creations have won many awards and can be found in homes across the country and abroad.
Pyro-Techniques Design LLC
Tupelo, MS
Wood
Guild Member since 2020
Susan Freeman
Susan Freeman
Birmingham, AL
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 1989
Susan has been making wheel thrown utilitarian pottery for over 30 years. Her work is light due to its tin walled construction. All surface decoration is hand applied after the thrown pot is dried to a leather hard stage. Susan has exhibited in fairs and festivals throughout the Southeast and Northeast, garnering several hundred awards, numerous Best of Show, purchases and the coveted Lathe Design Award. Her work can be found in private collections around the world.