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
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.
“My interest in creating jewelry began with many gem and mineral field trips with the North Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society. Next came many workshops in various states where I learned skills to create wearable art that incorporated those “found” gemstones and fossils. Enameling became a new skill, and with it exciting experiments in color, texture, and shape. I enjoy assisting with two to four workshops each year with the gem and mineral club in Tupelo.”
Pontotoc, MS
Mixed Media
Guild member since 2015
Susanna Valievas
Susanna Valievas
Growing up in Krasnodar, Russia, Susanna loved working with her hands doing knitting, crochet, and embroidery with threads and beads. She was born in Georgia USSR and went to State Medical University in Baku, Azerbaijan when she got older, where she became a medical doctor. In 2012, she became interested in felting and nunofelting through some classes and began creating as a hobby. From there, Susanna started to make shawls, jackets, hats , gloves for family and friends. She continued working as a doctor but began expanding her work and selling her creations on the side. 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.
She prefers to work with excellent quality wool from Italy and silk from Uzbekistan. Every year, she expands her learning through classes to keep up to date on new methods of felting and enjoys being part of creative communities, sharing ideas with other artists.
Brandon, MS
Fiber
Member since 2022
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.
Clayton Waddell
Clayton Waddell
Clinton, MS
Metal
Member since 2022
Clayton is a wood worker, jewelry maker, and tool maker. While occupying himself with wood working, he found significant interest in machine tools, paintings and sculptures. Clayton learned most of crafts in New Orleans at his shop on Magazine Street. He found refugee here in Clinton Mississippi during Katrina and has stayed here since.
Jeanne Wakeman
Jeanne Wakeman
Fort Walton Beach, FL
Glass, Metal
Fused, Jewelry
Guild member since 2016
Patricia Watkins
Patricia Watkins
A fellow with the Guild, Patricia’s work consists primarily of wheel thrown pieces in hi-fired stoneware and porcelain. She produces Raku one of a kind decorative pieces using various firing methods. Her continued exploration of form has led her to focus on altered shapes, to compose vessels that are obviously thrown shapes, but are made asymmetrical with additions of slabs or coils in patterns that are unique to her work. As each shape emerges, it becomes a vehicle for the interplay of pattern, line, and color that she loves.
Slidell, LA
Clay
Guild member since 1992
Fellow since 2001
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.
Warren Wells
Warren Wells
Madison, MS
Clay
Pottery
Guild member since 2008
Warren owns and operates a pottery studio in Raleigh and formerly owned and operated one in Arizona. He fires most of his pottery in a gas kiln, but also uses alternative methods such as raku firing and pit firing. To Warren, pottery is more than a means of earning a living, and he takes pride in his work, the quality of it, and the pleasure it brings to others. “When creating individual pieces of pottery, I keep in mind that my work will be enjoyed by families around the world, and will be passed down through generations.
Wells Studio
Wells Studio
White Pine, TN
Metal
Enamel Sculpture
Guild member since 2005
The Wells’ work as artists and sculptors has been a professional endeavor since 1966. Each piece begins with an idea, which Bob designs and creates on paper or in metal. The full pieces are joined by brazing and soldering the parts together. Color is then added using torch painting and enamel. Because the outcome of color depends on weather and humidity and how hot the torch is, each piece comes out unique. After all of this, Dolores applies a coat of lacquer to condition it to last through all sorts of weather. “We combine our separate skills to design, create, and finish each original piece ourselves with the hopes that the owners will enjoy it as much as we have had the pleasure and fun of creating it.”
Sue West
Sue West
Gulfport, MS
Metal
Jewelry
Guild member since 2013
After retiring in 2004, Mary Sue tried her hand at jewelry making. Some of what she does is self- taught, and the training that she has received at school has polished her skills. According to Mary Sue, fused glass is the most fun and possibly the most frustrating because you don’t what you are going to get until it comes out of the kiln. Sometimes it is breath taking and sometimes it goes into the scrap heap. Mary Sue teaches and really enjoy helping others who want to learn. Teaching is her way of giving back to something that has meant so much to her.
Billy Joe Whitehead
Billy Joe Whitehead
Starkville, MS
Leather
Belts, Wallets, Etc.
Guild member since 2006
In 1989, Billy Joe wanted a tooled leather guitar strap; that was the beginning of his leatherworking career. He had always enjoyed making things with his hands- woodworking, hand drawing, metal engraving, flint knapping- so he felt confident he could do this. After completing the strap, since he now owned the tools, he made guitar straps for his ‘pickin’ buddies. Before long, he was creating leathercrafts to sell at craft fairs. He spends hours hand carving pictures and hand crafting custom items for customers. Being a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi has inspired Billy Joe to do his best leather work by getting to know other guild members, by broadening my customer base, and believing in himself and his work.
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.