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.
Jana John
Jana John
Louisville, KY
Clay
Ceramics
Guild member since 1995
A native of Oklahoma, Jana worked at newspapers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi before moving to Louisville in 2000. In addition to being a member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, she is a member of the Louisville Craftsmen’s Guild and a juried participant in the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program. She hand-builds pottery, both decorative and functional, using terracotta clay. Clay masks are her specialty. Her signature pieces have a cat motif. She makes cat-shaped masks, platters, bowls, spoon-rests, and pins. The cat's preoccupation comes from her love of cats. Other masks belong to the “My Women” series. They’re an exploration of the many paces and personalities of women.
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.
David James Johnson
David James Johnson
Memphis, TN
Sculpture
Ceramics
Guild member since 2011
David creates sculptures, paintings, drawings, and music, but it is with pottery that his creativity really becomes mystical. He wants his work to appear as if it just arose from the depths of an ocean, fresh and vibrant, full of life. David keeps the George Ohr statement, “No two pieces alike,” with him as he tries to embrace the beauty of the individual piece. His credo is: “I am not a factory; I am a man.” He wants his truly unique pottery to be used and adored in the modern home.
Jim Johnson
Jim became involved with woodworking upon his retirement in 2014. Jim is self-taught and uses various woodworking machines and tools. His grandfather was a carpenter and cabinet maker who transformed wood into beautiful objects and influenced Jim from an early age. Another influencer of Jim’s was his father who also enjoyed woodworking. Jim uses the tools he inherited from both of them.
Forest, MS
Wood
Member since 2023
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson
Walnut Grove, MS
Wood
Canes
Guild member since 2007
As a boy, Mike often sat watching, fascinated by his father and the men who would sit, talking and producing thin, curls of cedar from sticks they were carving. He carved occasionally in his early adult years, though his efforts were less than an attempt to be a serious carver, yet more than just ‘whittling.’ Then he started carving jewelry and figures from found wood and began to develop a self-taught style. He became interesting in carving hiking sticks when he saw some that his sister had carved and others at craft shows and museums. Now, through his carving techniques and ideas, he makes pieces that are ‘story sticks,’ because they have a story, song, or theme. He hopes that his pieces might pique the interest of children the way his was caught by the whittlers of his youth.
Juliet Johnston
Juliet studied Ceramics at Delta State University and Jackson State University before her career and joining the guild.
Jackson, MS
Clay
Guild member since 2005
Fellow since 2014
Pat Juneau
Pat Juneau
Scott, LA
Metal
Sculpture
Guild member since 1985
Pat and Susanne were the first “out-of-state” members of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, and they’re proud of that distinction. They are also proud of their work- big steel sculpture for Pat and jewelry for Susanne. Self-taught, Susanne uses silver, copper, and bronze, along with some enamel, to make her beautiful jewelry. Pat works with steel and paints steel to make his flowers, musicians, and whatever comes to his mind. They have both been practicing their craft for over 30 years. They have appeared in various publications.
Lynda Katz
Lynda Katz is a studio potter who has lived and worked in southeast Louisiana since 1973. She currently creates both one of a kind pieces and a line of functional and decorative porcelain at her studio outside Independence. Her work is well known in the southeast and has been shown nationwide in shops, galleries and exhibitions. Her work is represented in private and public collections and has received numerous awards.
She received her B.A. degree in 1968 from Douglass College in New Jersey, where she studied ceramics with Hui Ka Kwong. In 1971, she received her M.A. in ceramics from Florida State University. Her work is highly informed by studies in the history of ceramics, especially Chinese Song dynasty porcelains with their jade like celadon glazes over wheel thrown and incised forms. Another important inspiration for her is the Louisiana landscape.
Independence, LA
Clay
Guild member since 1985
Fellow since 1994
Charles Lee King
Charles Lee King
Yazoo City, MS
Metal, Wood
Accessories
Guild member since 2011
What makes someone want to make a bowl of the ugliest material he can find? Chick does and he continually looks for that type of material. He loves to make something pretty and unusual out of something ugly and discarded. Chick has always liked sculptures, but all you can do with a sculpture is look at it. So, as he makes his bowls, little sculptures always in the back of his mind. His bowl sculptures can be used as utilitarian items around the house. He makes one of a kind bowls, letting the character in the wood define the item. Chick enjoys both metal and wood. He uses old wood with character and old rusty metal to give his bowls their unique look.
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.
Sarah Langston
Master Craftsman in Beadwork (EGA) (2017)
Montana Best in Show Beadwork (2008)
Museum of Beading 6” square Exhibit: Empress Vaccina Stomp out Covid - exhibit. 2021
Ridgeland, MS
Glass
Guild member since 2014
Fellow since 2023
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.