Piney Woods

Although he has been a resident of Mississippi for only three years, Edward Jones has made the buildings found in the southwest part of the state a central focus of his work. Jones was born in Helena, Arkansas in 1917. When he was four years old, his family joined the migration of southern African Americans […]

Larry House is a master blacksmith living and working in Picayune. His studio, Dragon’s Watch Forge and Foundry is located on the Pechochen Swamp and specializes in hand-crafted weapons including knives, swords, daggers, and axes. In addition to forging steel, Dragon’s Watch also casts pewter and bronze. Larry’s pieces are largely sold at renaissance fairs

Tammy Greer, a member of Southeastern Louisiana’s United Houma Nation, was born in New Orleans. Her parents parted before she was born, and her mother, due to lack of education and resources, felt unable to care for Tammy and her older brother. They were adopted by a traveling minister and his wife, but Tammy was

Master instrument builder M. B. Green was born in Soso (Jones County) in 1930, into a family of farmers. When his father died in 1945, the family moved to be around his mother’s relatives in nearby Louin. He married in 1951 and his family would eventually include six children. He worked as a baker (including

Unlike those who carve walking sticks or canes, Vernon Errington of New Hebron finds gnarled, unique pieces of wood in the woods surrounding his home and converts them to walking sticks. Most of them come from small tree trunks that have been twisted and deformed by honeysuckle vines that grow and wrap around them. Errington

Claudia Cartee is a skilled potter with an eclectic background. Her father’s family was and is based in Seminary, Mississippi. Claudia was born in Orange County, California, where her father cultivated the craft of mold making for pottery and her mother painting pieces. They soon collaborated in the making and sales of slip-cast earthenware. (Slip-casting

Jessie Burge lives near his family’s “old home place” in Lamar County; his father was a sharecropper there. He first handled a guitar when his father bought one for an older brother in 1955. Jesse started playing regularly at the age of ten, then played bass and bluegrass guitar during and after a four-year stint

George Berry was born in Oklahoma at White Oak Indian Hills, a Cherokee Indian village. His father was a carpenter and made utilitarian objects (like ax handles) in his spare time. He started his son out in carving by the age of seven. Berry started out by making simple toys and carvings of animals that

Gustina Atlas was born in Claiborne County and has lived there all of her life. Her mother and all of the women in their neighborhood would quilt, but she did not take an interest in it as a child. She left Port Gibson to attend college but returned to teach mathematics at the local high

Amoah was born in Ghana, a country on the western coast of Africa. He grew up in the village of Ahwarse and went to grammar school in Accra, Ghana’s capital. Amoah comes from a long line of woodcarvers. His great-grandfather was a master carver and was his first teacher. Richard began carving when he was