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.
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.
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.
John Haltom
John Haltom
Oxford, MS
Mixed Media
Native American Arts
Guild member since 2002
John has been handcrafting Native American bows and arrows since he was 12 years old. He started out using branches, but because they didn't last long, he now cuts staves from the trunks of trees, including the strong Osage orange, elm, hickory, ash, black locust, and black cherry. He uses very limited hand tools and no machines or electric saws, John's bows can be five-foot long Cherokee bows from the Woodlands, or shorter bows from the Plains. After he finishes the extracting process of cutting and stringing each bow, he decorates them with feathers, beads, paint, and leather or fur. His arrows are handmade, the shafts cut from dogwood, privet, willow, black cherry, or cane. The shafts are bundles in groups of a dozen, put up to dry for up to a year before they are finished and furnished with arrowheads.
Debra Hayes
Debra Hayes
Union, MS
Mixed Media
Jewelry
Guild member since 2011
Debra Hayes has been creative as long as she can remember. Even at a very early age, she would sit with needle and thread making little dolls from her mother's left over quilt scraps. She remembers using things like pipe cleaners for hair, thinking always of how to use what she had to make what she wanted. Finally, in the 7th grade, she was able to home economics where she learned to design and make her own clothing, skills that she now puts to use every day. In every creative endeavor she has tried, she has always striven to do it her own way. Usually, nothing is off-limits when it comes to what may be incorporated into a piece. She enjoys challenging herself with taking the ordinary or discarded and turning it into a beautiful piece of art.
Rebekah Hixon
Rebekah Hixon
Madison, MS
Mixed Media
Member since 2023
Rebekah has been painting pottery for over ten years, but always wanted to make her own. Her grandmother was an artist and the way she painted on canvas amazed her. Rebekah uses a special concrete and cement blend along with different textiles and fabrics in her process to mold each item. Her inspiration is constant and in everything she sees. Rebekah believes in re-using items to them into something magical.
Bessie Johnson
Bessie Johnson
West Point, MS
Mixed Media
Sculpture
Guild member since 2016
Bessie’s baskets have been praised for their remarkable symmetry, beauty, and innovative style. Her achievements as a craftsman and designer of basketry has brought her increasing distinction and prominence. For many years, Bessie has woven a rich heritage with a contemporary artistic vision to create her own unique art form using pine needles, gourds, corn shucks, china berries, and black walnuts. Her use of china berries gained national attention when she was asked to design and make the ornaments for the 1994 Mississippi Christmas tree in the circle of trees surrounding the taller United States tree displayed at the White House. Bessie considers her basketry to be artistic like her forefathers, as much as family’s legacy as any genetic inheritance.
Lynn Fraley Laughlin
Lynn Fraley Laughlin
Madison, MS
Mixed Medium
Jewelry
Guild member since 2013
Combining the elegance of the past with the beauty of everyday life, Lynn creates unique designs for lovers of nostalgia. Inspired by love of the past and her memories of a mother, who, as a child of the depression, taught her the value of conserving even the smallest things in life, Lynn spends much time scouring estate sales, garage sales, auctions, and flea markets for vintage finds. After acquiring both vintage salvage and heirloom pieces, she studies the uniqueness of each piece and how pieces complement one another to design a piece of jewelry that combines the beauty of the past and the present.
Christina Lemon
Christina Lemon
Statesboro, GA
Metal
Mixed Media
Categories: Jewelry
Member since 2022
Christina’s work features one-of-a-kind, limited edition and production series designs in sterling silver, copper, enamel, gemstones and pearl accents.
Cindy Pagan
Cindy Pagan
Pearl, MS
Mixed Medium
Jewelry
Guild member since 2014
Cindy’s lifelong passion of creating objects from scratch began in a summer craft class when she was in junior high. Her unique jewelry evolves from how the materials and her handiwork are combined, inspired by her creativity and vision. Her greatest reward is seeing some of her jewelry as a witnessing tool for her faith and God’s glory. “I strive for a positive attitude and have a passion for each piece of jewelry I make and hope others will find enjoyment wearing my Winsome-Creations,” says Cindy.
Roger and Renae Poer
Roger and Renae Poer
Sylvan Springs, AL
Mixed Media
Jewelry
Guild member since 2015
Thomas Root
Thomas Root
Madison, MS
Wood
Mixed Media
Guild member since 2008
As a self-retired CEO of two companies, Tom found himself with time on his hands. He started making trivets out of wine corks for neighbors and friends as a method of filling some of that time. Soon his creations were so much in demand that he branched out to making lamps, wine bottles, fish, flowers, and butterflies out of wine corks. Tom cuts the corks in half to provide a flat surface and hot glues them to 1⁄4 or 1⁄2 inch laminated boards. When the design is finished, a frame is custom cut to match the board. Each piece of art comes ready to hang with hook, brackets, and wall spacers made from a bed of hot glue sprinkled with cork dust.
Laura Tarbutton Beach House Studio
Laura Tarbutton Beach House Studio
Brandon, MS
Mixed Media
Jewelry
Guild member since 2011
Laura lives on 11 acres filled with creeks, trees, meadows, and God’s furry creatures. She finds even more inspiration in antique laces and pieces of potpourri, making molds of interesting objects, textures, antique buttons, medals and crosses, and incorporating them into her jewelry designs. She never duplicates her work, using the elements differently in each piece. A precious metal clay kiln or torch is used to fire her PMC pieces and she prefers the natural patina of silver. She shares her knowledge through local collage enrichment programs.