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.
Clarice Turner
Clarice Turner
Pontotoc, MS
Mixed Media
Jewelry
Guild member since 2017
Clarice has grown from being a creative jewelry artist to a teacher of jewelry art. Through club workshops that she has presented and assisted with, she has witnessed that people have a definite desire to learn, to be creative, and be unique. She has watched students of various ages pick up hammers, saws, torches, and various tools and learn to use them to complete projects they were proud of. Jewelry art is about learning, sharing and expression of self.
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.
Janet Akers
Janet Akers
Bend, OR
Clay / Ceramics: Guild member since 1999
Mixed Media / Sculpture: Guild member since 2008
Janet’s art work is primarily sculptural, in clay and mixed-media. She finds that working with a variety of materials provides a challenge for her and adds interest to the final piece. Besides clay, she has used metal, wood, handmade paper, fabric, stone, glass, concrete, and dried plant materials. The subject of her work varies according to what catches her fancy, but there are few themes that she returns to often. Much of it is inspired by nature, both plants and animals. Horses are a frequent subject. Other influences are architecture and women’s issues. She is a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, the Louisiana Crafts Guild, the Vicksburg Art Association, and the Mississippi State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Kit Davis Barksdale
Kit Davis Barksdale
Bay St. Louis, MS
Glass / Beader/Beadmaker: Guild member since 1997
Mixed Media / Mixed Media
Guild member since 2015
One of the founding members for the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, Kit Davis Barksdale graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor of arts in education. She continued to create art from her personal studio in Jackson and build the Guild until 1993. Just two years after this, the Craftsmen Guild asked her to be its executive director. After having to rethink her plans to build a studio on the Coast after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Barksdale discovered Mustard Seed in Jackson, a center for developmentally challenged adults, where she became the executive director in 2006. Since then she has continued producing her bead work while also helping enrich the lives of those with disabilities through art at the Mustard Seed.