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.
Joe Gilbert
Joe Gilbert
Madison, MS
Stone
Knives, Arrowheads
Guild member since 2007
Flintnapping - the making of arrowheads, blades, and knives- is considered by many a lost art. Ever since Joe was a young boy, he has had strong interest in primitive mankind, Native American history, and stone tool technology. Joe is a self-taught flint napper. His tool kit consists of primarily of a variety of copper pressure flakers. The natural materials he uses to produce these tools consists of flints, Cherts, Jasper, Obsidian, Novaculite, Dacite, and Agate. The modern materials are fused glass, melted glass bottles, fiber optic glass, and sheet glass. There is an endless variety of colors, styles, and different types of stone and glass tools that he is able to create in this lost art.
Bobby L. Howard
Bobby L. Howard
Brandon, MS
Metal
Knives
Guild member since 1996
Bobby's work is based on traditional knives, made by knife-makers and blacksmiths, when knives were essential tools used in everyday living. His designs are his interpretation of how a knife should look, feel, and perform. He adds folk art features to some knives to make them special one of a kind. The blades are hand forged from round or flat bar stock high carbon steel. The heat source for forging is a gas or coal forge. The blades are forges on old anvils used by blacksmiths of a time gone. His welded Damascus steel knives are made by forge welding different types of steel together to develop steel with contrasting patterns as the layers are ground through. The Damascus steel blade is etched in acid to reveal the contrasting layers of steel.
Terry Vandeventer
Terry Vandeventer
Byram, MS
Metal
Knives
Guild member since 1995
Because of the excellence of his handcrafted cutlery, Terry has been promoted to master bladesmith by the American Bladesmith Society. He is one of 112 masters worldwide and is the only one with that rating in Mississippi. In 2005, his was judged Best Bowie Knife in the Arkansas Knifemakers Show, and in 2013, he was given the American Bladesmith Society’s Journeyman Knife of the Year award. He also won honors at the Mississippi Knifemaker’s Association show in 2002.