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.
Kathleen Patterson
Kathleen S. Patterson was raised on a family farm in southern Indiana and moved to Mississippi in 1983 for graduate school in psychology. Her career was spent as a licensed clinical psychologist. She became interested in pine needle crafting in 2015 as retirement approached. She currently lives in Magee, MS and joined the Craftsmen's Guild in 2024. She hopes to encourage people with her baskets to appreciate the natural world of God. Kathleen loves the many shapes and forms she sees during her many walks and hikes in the woods, and she often brings home small objects she finds there for inspiration. She is happy to create a custom-made pine needle piece for you.
Magee, MS
Fiber
Guild member since 2024
Clayton Thigpen
Clayton Thigpen
Madison, Ms
Wood
Joined the guild in 2024
For all of the woodturning pieces I’ve completed. I Have have never actually started one. By the time I put the wood on my lathe, the tree that it came from has already spent decades growing, developing and weathering season after season. This creates an intricate story throughout the grain patterns of the wood, which is exactly what I am looking for as I mill my stockpile of reclaimed and naturally fallen logs. I want to find the best story to tell in the pieces that I create. Typically this results in turing simple yet elegant pieces with a high level of technical prowess. I have a great affinity for woodturners who introduce carving and embellishments to their work, and I do enjoy incorporating that from time to time, but my greatest satisfaction is uncovering breathtaking, naturally occurring designs, hidden just below some bland bark.
Lou Turner
Madison, Ms
Clay
Joined the guild in 2024
Today, I continue to make ceramics featuring whimsical characters and quirky details infused with playful and unexpected elements. I love combining hand-built and wheel thrown forms while using mid-range glazes. Whether a mug with an unusual handle, a bowl that evolves into a rooster, a “Bubba” face jug, or a forgotten juke joint they all evoke the spirit of the Mississippi delta where I was born.
For me, clay is not just a medium-it is a way of honoring the land, the people and the culture that shaped me. I create pieces that echo the timeless spirit of the Delta.
Lee A. Washington
Lee Washington
Rolling Fork, Ms
Guild member since 2002
Metal
I am an Agricultural Power and Machinery Instructor at the South Delta Vocational Complex, in Rolling Fork, Ms. During Spring Break one year I got 20 Spindles from the local tractor dealer. I put them on the work bench trying to see what I could do with them. I arranged them in several positions and one looked like a man and at the point Lee’s Cotton Picker Art was born.
While using the following tools and equipment (oxy-fuel cutting torch, bench grinder with wire brush, blacksmith’s vice, MIG-welder, vice grips, chipper hammer and a pipe) on the cotton spindles. The people start to come to life on the bench and become a fun piece of art for everyone to enjoy.
Ilayali Alvarez-Hall
Ilayali Alvarez-Hall
Jackson, Mississippi
Mixed Media
Guild member since 2007
I continue being fascinated with the use of recycled elements in my work, and it is always somewhat narrative
The ideas that form the narrative are not always clear at the beginning. However, as the elements are assembled on the paper wood or canvas, by using oils, acrylics, pastels, beads for texture with wire for a line and volume and collage for form, the imagery conceived in my mind takes meaning.
A meaning that I hope is expressive and significant for the viewer to identify with the narratives, or to find the work interesting enough to seek a resolution of the ideas on their own.
Arceneaux Cabinet Makers
Covington, LA
Wood / Furniture
Guild member since 2004
Greg’s furniture can be seen in the prestigious Cabildo Museum in New Orleans, in many plantations and in the offices and lobbies of Louisiana State University. He has been featured on the front cover of “Woodshop News,” in “Better Homes and Gardens Wood Magazine,” HGTV’s “Modern Masters,” the “Fine Woodworking” magazine, and the “Stepping Out” series of PBS, WYES, New Orleans. He has achieved many awards and for 23 years has served as donor and auctioneer of New Orleans’ Traditional Jazz Show.
Annette Aucoin
Annette Aucoin
Broussard, LA
Metal / Metal
Guild member since 1997
From 1989 to 1994, Annette was a printmaker and painter. When she discovered that she loved working the etched copper plate more than the prints, she returned to school to become a metal smith. Mother Nature’s leaves are imitated in many of her silver fabricated jewelry pieces. Annette was selected to make the 2002 ornament for the White House Christmas Tree, and her painting, “Waiting” is in the University of Louisiana Permanent Collection.
Lyn-Rae Ashley
Lyn-Rae Ashley
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Clay / Porcelain and Ceramics
Guild member since 2018
Ann Baker
Ann Baker
Jackson, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 1993
The emotions that shape Ann’s pottery are influenced by the southwestern deserts and an appreciation of Asian art. The shapes she creates with clay are directly influenced by her experiences while living on a desert in southern Utah, where the earth shoots up into a very dramatic formation outlined by space. Her work includes both hand built and wheel thrown pieces made with stoneware clay fired to cone 10 reduction. She makes, cleans, fires, and glazes each piece with glazes she developed to compliment her designs and shapes. Her glaze pallet ranges from subtle grays and blues to black. Both the desert and love of Asian pottery inspires the clean lines, the emphasis of negative space, the shapes, designs, and all over feel and emotion of her pottery.
Andi Sherrill Bedsworth
Andi Sherrill Bedsworth
Oxford, MS
Mixed Media / Mixed Media
Guild member since 2015
Andi Sherrill Bedsworth is a mixed media collage artist who is also a member of the Oxford Artist’s Guild and Bozarts Alliance as well as the owner of Art to Go, LLC. She uses her local Oxford business to bring arts education and instruction to children and adults of all ages all over the Lafayette County area. When she’s not running her business, Bedsworth produces fine mixed media crafts using an assortment of different items such as paper, canvas, oil paints, acrylics, pastels, inks, and recycled items. In her own words, “almost anything I can put on the substrate” is what you can find on her magnificent art pieces.
Stacy McInnis Blalock
Stacy McInnis Blalock
Marion, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2014
With a Ph.D. in audiology and a job at a busy ENT clinic, you would wonder how Stacy McInnis-Blalock ever finds the time to make her one of a kind ceramics; however, she always finds a way to nurse her love affair with clay that started over fifteen years ago. Always a lover of art, she was thrilled with what the medium of clay had to offer and has always found new ways to work with her medium to produce something unique and beautiful. She is always exploring and trying out different techniques both on the wheel and during the firing process to help meet her creative vision for what the lump of clay before her can be changed to. This exploration is what keeps the process fun and calls her back to the wheel again and again.
Rhonda Blasingame
Rhonda Blasingame
Jackson, MS
Fiber / Quilts
Guild member since 2007
Although Rhonda’s work utilizes traditional quilting skills, her quilts are nothing like the ones she made with her grandmother. Contrast, color, design, and subject are all used to create an overall ‘feel’ to each piece. You may see burlap or velvet with the traditional cotton, and embellishments like beading, found objects, or fibers are all used to enhance the design and add another layer of movement and texture. All her work incorporates her deep love for the South and the ‘pass-along’ tradition of quilting.
Julie Boudreaux
Julie Boudreaux
Diamondhead, MS
Metal / Jewelry
Guild member since 2014
Julie began creating jewelry over ten years ago, initially starting out with beading, but rapidly expanding her interests to include other creative techniques. Her current work includes the use of Precious Metal Clay, wire, sheet metals, and glass, often combining the different media into a single piece. Much of her education in her craft has been done through the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts and Rio Grande, where she participated in classes in wire wrapping, silver smithing, PMC, and lamp work glass. She has participated in many Arts Alive events and has had her work displayed at the Waveland City Hall gallery. She is also a promoter of her craft through her classes in fusing, wire work, and specialized beading techniques.