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.
Alan Kolodny
Alan Kolodny
Jackson, MS
Metal, Fiber
Jewelry
Guild member since 2010
As a child, Alan was taught to crochet and worked in the fine thread. He even helped put himself through college and seminary by making and selling crocheted angels and other ornaments. He got interested in the dying art of tatting and “took to it like a fish out of water.” He has won none blue ribbons at the Mississippi State Fair. In addition to his own work, Alan likes to participate via the internet with a larger community of people all over the world who are striving to preserve the art of tatting.
Amanda Lovitt-Call
Amanda Lovitt-Call
Brooklyn, MS
Fiber
Weaving
Guild member since 1984
Amanda approaches her work with order, strength, and beauty in mind but most of all with a love for the complexities of the color itself, a devotion to the study of weave structures, and a desire to use the interplay of fiber, texture, and light. She especially likes to weave undulating surfaces which shimmer with reflective materials, creating illusions of light. She is fascinated with the elegance of textiles used in historic weaving and attempts to redefine them in her own work. She says this has been a gradual process of trying, learning, discarding, and accepting. She wants her weaving to be seen not as merely decorative, but suggestive of the venerable structures of ancient textiles.
Kathy Perito
Kathy Perito
Madison, MS
Fiber
Weaving
Guild member since 2013
After 30 years of working in various engineering and management positions, Kathy moved to Mississippi and discovered a passion for weaving here at the Craft Center. Weaving gives her the opportunity to apply engineering principals to create textiles and goods for specific functions. Kathy’s goal in every weaving project is to ensure the weave structures and fibers selected deliver the expected results. She says, “It is so rewarding to take a few bobbins of yarn and watch a cloth appear as those threads interlace. And best of all, there is always more to learn, try, and share.”
Shawn Richards
Shawn Richards
Brandon, MS
Fiber, Paper
Knitting & Crochet, Scherenschnitte
Guild member since 2018
Pam Sigman
Pam Sigman
Canton, MS
Fiber
Dolls
Guild member since 2010
Pam Sigman creates intricate porcelain dolls for customers from Mississippi to Australia. Each one is meticulously planned, hand-poured, and painted. Each doll takes 40 or more hours to complete, and Pam finds true joy in making each one of them. Through the years, she has expanded her repertoire to include Christmas ornament, small teacup fairies, life-size dolls, and even dolls that look like customers’ children. Individuals and retail stores throughout the world are purchasing Pam’s dolls. When she isn’t making dolls or spending time with her family, Pam enjoys riding and caring for Tennessee walking horses.
Pia Stelma
Pia Stelma
Vicksburg, MS
Clay, Fiber
Flowers, Embroidery
Guild member since 2015
Pia, originally from Thailand, remembers seeing a lady selling clay flowers at a craft fair in the hospital where she worked. She was fascinated by the detail and the process, so upon moving to the United States, she began making her delicate blooms with clay imported from Thailand as she waited to receive the credentials necessary to work legally in the USA. Each petal and leaf of each flower are individually made and hand painted. The clay air dries, and because of special secret ingredients, the clay has elastic properties when it dries, giving you flowers that will last a long, long time.
Marilyn Tolley Rose Studio
Marilyn Tolley Rose Studio
Ridgeland, MS
Fiber
Quilts
Guild member since 2010
Susanna Valievas
Susanna Valievas
Categories: Clothing
Member since 2022
Susanna began crafting in 2012 as a hobby. The first class she took was a flower making class and she was hooked. Susanna says that the process of creating each piece begins with the design. Because she has always knitted, crocheted, and sewn, the idea of putting items together without a needle was fascinating.
Virginia Lynn Watkins
Virginia Lynn Watkins
Jackson, MS
Fiber
Knitting
Guild member since 2010
Lynn started knitting because she felt a need to create something after her husband’s family home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. A distinguished attorney and former newspaper reporter, she used her investigative skills on her new craft, and soon graduated from simply knitting patterns to complex artistry. For her, every project is an adventure, a gift of the spirit as well as the hands. It is also a gift everyone can share, requiring only an inexpensive outlay of equipment and materials and an unlimited imagination.
Allen Whittington
Allen Whittington
Natchez, MS
Wood, Fiber
Baskets (Nantucket ), Caning
Guild member since 1991
Diane Williams
Diane Williams
Madison, MS
Mixed Media Fiber
Fiber Arts
Guild member since 2011
Diane has been a seamstress for over 45 years and once owned her own business. She has made a few traditional quilts along the way, but has only recently discovered that working with fabrics is an art form. Now she sees the world as a landscape that can be recreated in dimensional and territorial layers of fabrics. The world is at her fingertips as she incorporates elements such as stone, pine straw, hand-spun silk yarn, beads, and metal. Diane’s work is spiritual, and she considers herself merely the vessel by which the elements and fibers creatively express themselves.
Sharon Williams
Sharon Williams
Coldwater, MS
Fiber
Weaving
Guild member since 1986
Sharon is a weaver of handwoven clothing. Through the use of color, texture, and fabric manipulation, she brings the simple straight forward lines of traditional garments such as the Hopi wrap, ruana or vest into the contemporary realm. The stole is no longer a plain piece of cloth, but an elegant creation to drape the female form. Sharon selects all of her yarns, weaves all of her own fabrics, and constructs each garment. The hand finishing is also done by her hand. Once she sews in her label, anyone who buys her handwoven garment will know that she would not sell any piece that she would not personally be proud to wear herself.
Elaine Maisel
Ridgeland, MS
Feathers
Surface Design
Guild member since 2012
Elaine says she paints on feathers because she likes how the shape, size, and specific demands of feathers challenges her creatively, focusing her attention on detailed, mindful, miniature work. Like watercolor, there is little room for error. Once the brush touches the feather, it cannot be erased. The feathers she uses are responsibly sourced from small family farms, parrot owners, and local turkey hunters. Through her craft and work as a teaching artist for the Mississippi Arts Commission, she enjoys being able to bring together the subjects of nature, conservation, the sciences, and art.
Prudence McGehee
McComb, MS
Fiber
Categories: Baskets
Member since 2023
Prudence studied weaving as a college student. Prudence was admitted into the Mississippi Craftsmen’s Guild in 1980 as a weaver. She has weavings in the permeant collections at St. Philip's Episcopal church in Jackson as well as the GSA Headquarters in Jackson. In about 2008, Prudence was taught basket weaving by Joe Bruneau from Pisgah, North Carolina. Prudence incorporates fabric and other materials into her baskets. The design and size of her baskets are determined by the unique qualities of the materials and the intended use.