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.
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.
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.
Lisa F. Bouvette
Lisa F. Bouvette
Gulfport, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2002
Living on the Gulf Coast, Lisa is inspired by the marches, bayous, and animal life of the area. At southwest Louisiana University and William Carey University, she studied ceramics, fine art, and art history. Her work includes wheel thrown pieces and small animal sculptures fired to cone 6 in an oxidation atmosphere. Her wheel thrown pieces are most often carved for an aged effect. She wax resists the pieces, then adds layers of slip and glazes to achieve a rich and unique surface. This process gives her glazes a muted, satiny watercolor quality.
Rosalind "Rocky" Broome
Rosalind "Rocky" Broome
Baton Rouge, LA
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 1997
Using nature as her inspiration, Rocky’s objective is to create watercolor, expressionistic like paintings that evoke a feeling of joy and beauty. All of her glazes are lead free and the ware is safe for the microwave, oven, and dishwasher. Function is an important consideration, as is beauty. He encourages you to use the pots daily. The one of a kind pieces consist mainly of unique plates and vessels; some are painted using the production patterns and others are black and white silhouettes of loosely drawn dancers that communicate celebration. Rocky holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana State University. His concentration was in ceramics and, like most potters, once she touched clay he was hooked. Since then, she has been involved in making and teaching art.
Conner Burns
Conner Burns
Natchez, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2000
Connor was exposed to a variety of visual and performing arts during his childhood. His home was filled with art, especially the handmade pottery his father made. After a number of years of fitting clay around his job in the health and wellness field, Connor took a year off and spent the time working with clay. One year turned into two as Conner spent the time as the Artist-in- residence at Steven Hill’s Red Star studios in Kansas City, after which he returned home and started his own studio. Rich subtleties and organic influences are important in his work. Conner’s intention is for his work to look as if it grew that way, rather than being made. Both visual and tactile are components that used to encourage the user to take a closer look- to reach out and touch.
Sam Clark
Sam Clark
Madison, MS
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2002
Sam’s designs come from his own active imagination mixed with year of drawing classes that focused on the figure and gesture. For Sam, there is a connection between the between the observer and the work of art. Making a figure or creature of unknown origin appear to have life the second you glance at it and away is what he wants to achieve. His sculpture requires an audience with an energy, for “only in their imagination will the clay take breath. For me this connection is as important as the piece of work.”
Cosmic Clay
Cosmic Clay
Dowelltown, TN
Clay / Ceramics
Guild member since 2008
With over 30 years as professional ceramic artists, Louis and Christine have enjoyed the experience of many clay, glaze, and firing techniques- from high-fire functional stoneware to low-fire decorative Raku, with which they have had national recognition. They particularly enjoy the challenge of testing the sensitive physical limits of clay, by building precarious shapes and forms into stimulating sound constructions. They strive to incorporate into all their works subconscious themes of mystical imagery, curious symbols, and lyrical patterns. Overall, it is their intent to stimulate the imaginations, evoke a mood of pleasure, for art in sharing the vision of the soul.
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.
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.”
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.
Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes
Natchez, MS
Clay
Ceramics
Guild member since 1995
Since becoming a Christian in 1975, Tom has had a special interest in crosses. Tom moved to Natchez in 1980, and a few years later he began making crosses from the square nails that were used in building houses prior to the Civil War. These nail crosses are worn in many states and countries. Crosses have been provided for churches to use in their processionals and other similar usage. Tom also makes stoneware pottery. When he is firing or waiting on pots to dry, he makes crosses. As a mostly self-taught craftsman, Tom enjoys being a member because the Guild has not only provided an additional market for his work but has given him the opportunity to know really great people who have influenced him as a craftsman and as a person.
Jana John
Jana John
Louisville, KY
Clay
Ceramics
Guild member since 1995
A native of Oklahoma, Jana worked at newspapers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi before moving to Louisville in 2000. In addition to being a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, she is a member of the Louisville Craftsmen’s Guild and a juried participant in the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program. She hand-builds pottery, both decorative and functional, using terracotta clay. Clay masks are her specialty. Her signature pieces have a cat motif. She makes cat-shaped masks, platters, bowls, spoon-rests, and pins. The cat's preoccupation comes from her love of cats. Other masks belong to the “My Women” series. They’re an exploration of the many paces and personalities of women.
David James Johnson
David James Johnson
Memphis, TN
Sculpture
Ceramics
Guild member since 2011
David creates sculptures, paintings, drawings, and music, but it is with pottery that his creativity really becomes mystical. He wants his work to appear as if it just arose from the depths of an ocean, fresh and vibrant, full of life. David keeps the George Ohr statement, “No two pieces alike,” with him as he tries to embrace the beauty of the individual piece. His credo is: “I am not a factory; I am a man.” He wants his truly unique pottery to be used and adored in the modern home.
Lynda Katz
Lynda Katz
Independence, LA
Clay
Ceramics
Guild member since 1985
Lynda works exclusively in porcelain, a high fire white vitreous clay body which requires great skill of the potter. In addition to her one-of-a-kind and commissioned pieces, her work included a line of functional pottery. She throws each piece individually by hand. Her work incorporates a broad range of influences from throughout the history of ceramics, especially the classic porcelains of the Chinese Song Dynasty. Each piece is designed and made with great care and is intended to be used as well as contemplated. Lynda has a M.A. Degree in ceramics, has held several teaching positions, and has been shown nationally in shops, galleries, and exhibitions. She has received numerous awards for her work.