Mary is a newcomer to Natchez. She was born and raised in a small town in Florida where she was always doing something creative. Her art background is rooted in painting, college and assemblage. After 18 years in Florida she relocated to Greenville, South Carolina to attend Furman University. At Furman she completed a degree in Studio Art with a minor in Art History. During the summer after freshman year, while working at a girls camp, she learned to throw pots on the wheel. And as they say 'the rest is history'. She caught first the clay bug, then the fire bug and has dedicated most of her artistic time and learnings to functional ceramics. She came to Natchez just 3 days after graduating from university to accept the Resident Artist position at Natchez Clay, a local clay arts community on Clifton Avenue. At Natchez Clay she helps teach some classes and maintain the studio while having time to further explore her work in clay. The new work being made in Natchez tries to bring her love of surface design and layers into her pots, keep an eye at ArtsNatchez to see what comes next from this Resident.

D W Bryant

wooden bowls, vases, etc

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DW Bryant has lived in Natchez since 1950, though he was born in Crosby, MS in August of 1948. Family moved to Natchez in 1950. He attended Natchez/Adams county schools until January of 1966 when he transferred to Jefferson County High school to be able to help his father with a family business. He enlisted in the US Army in July of 1967 for three years including 1 year in Vietnam. After discharge he went to work for International Paper Company for 33 years until mill closure. He worked for the Adam County Sheriff's Department 4 years, retiring again in November of 2008. He was bitten by the woodworking bug while in junior high school and continues to enjoy working with this medium full time in retirement. He works primarily with trees that have either died or that have to be removed due to land clearing or storm damage. The title best fitting for him would be a treecycler. He finds our local woods in southwest MS to be more beautiful than anywhere else in this country. He has gathered most of his knowledge of turning bowls, vases. and pots from hands on experience which includes countless band aids, stitches, fractured bones, and multiple heartbreaks. He is a member of The Craftsmen's Guild of MS, and some of his friends in the Guild have given him instructions over the years in the use of finishes, tools and machinery. The Arts Natchez Gallery is the primary selling location for his work.

Shirley Byrne

photography

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The poetry in the insightful photographs of humanity and the beauty of nature are Shirley Byrne’s trademark. Shirley captures the gorgeous beauty of Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. Her photographs give us a woven glimpse into other people’s worlds and broadens our own respect for the beauty within us all. 

Esther Carpenter

Oil painting 

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Esther, a native of Natchez, studied Fine Art at Hollins College in Virginia. While she is a nationally recognized professional chef, Esther is best known as the head of Esther Carpenter Design, Inc. Her creative handiwork has appeared in architectural digest and graces the homes and businesses of some of the most illustrious names in the country. The stunning ceiling of the Great Hall at Tara Lago is just one example of her company's expertise. Esther's latest creations draw inspiration from the works of the early Impressionists who frequently searched for their subject matter in the great outdoors. Her use of light and color meld to form exquisite visual poems without words. Using her deft brush work, Esther reminds us to pause for a moment and appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds us.

Ron Chapman

color pencil, pencil, watercolor, pastel

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Ron was born in New Orleans. His mother, an artist, provided him with inspiration and support at an early age. When he was ten, he began painting in oils, but sports and friends soon took him away from painting. Later, he developed an interest in watercolors, but his business interfered. Trying to find his muse again, he started teaching himself Chinese Brush Painting, but hurricane Katrina put that on hold, so he took up colored pencils while living in his FEMA trailer. Before the hurricane, he purchased a home in Natchez, which is his special place where he will retire once he leaves his job as a Professor of History at Nunez Community College. Natchez is his "happy place", where he paints and writes.

Mark Coffey

photography

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Mark was born and raised in Natchez and has been in photography for over 35 years. He takes pictures from weddings to basketball games to industrial parks. His wife, Laurie is a real estate agent and the coach of the Trinity dance team. He has three children who go to Trinity Episcopal Day School. Chesley, sixteen, plays football and soccer; Patsy, thirteen, plays basketball and runs track; Caroline, eleven, plays basketball and is on the dance team.

Allyn DeVries

fiber arts, weaving

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Born in Akron, Ohio, where she taught art in public school, Allyn moved to Natchez with her husband Louis in 1987. Through the years, she has enjoyed experimenting with different weaving techniques. Color has always been an important part of her artistic work. While living in Venezuela, she was further inspired by the use of color in fabric design. Color brightens the day and puts a smile on one's face. But art can also reflect the zeitgeist of the era in which it is created, which she thinks is essential. However, in sad times, she likes to think her art brings a bit of pleasure and brightness. The bead and wire jewelry she makes is a great contrast to the weaving because she works on a weaving for weeks, sometimes for months, but a piece of jewelry can be done in much less time. As with many artists, she has tried many fields and enjoyed most, but has chosen to specialize in weaving. She has taught art in Akron public schools and private classes in painting, knitting, crocheting and weaving. Allyn received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Akron in 1972. As part of this comprehensive visual arts education, she took a class in hand weaving and fell in love with the medium. Already an avid knitter and crocheter, she added weaving to her fiber arts skills. Her work is sold through consignment shops, gift shops, and arts and crafts shows in Ohio and Mississippi. In Natchez, she shows regularly at Jefferson College at the Copper Magnolia Festival and demonstrates for Pioneer Days. She has also shown her work through the Natchez Art Association, the Lafayette Art association, the Mississippi Weavers Guild and Connor Burns Studio. She presently play flute in the St. Joseph Orchestra and baritone sax in the St. Joseph Jazzers.

Ann Faillace

oil, watercolor, mixed media

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Ann has always known that she loved art and design, as she began painting and drawing from a very young age. Her paintings are very expressive and designed with color and design as strong elements of expression. She grew up in a small town in Louisiana, the first of ten children. She was educated at Louisiana State University, BA with a major in Fine Arts. She took a year off to study sculpture at Tulane and Newcomb. She has been painting ever since - in watercolor, acrylic, and oils. She's taught private classes and has been very active in schools, clubs, and events promoting and encouraging the arts, both in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. She has exhibited in many juried shows locally and nationally and received numerous awards for her paintings. Her paintings are included in private and corporate collections. Her professional organizations have included Beaches Art Center,  Jacksonville Watercolor Society, St. Augustine Art Association, Natchez Art Association, West Feliciana Art Guild, Artist Guild of the Miss-Lou and ArtsNatchez Gallery. She resides in Natchez, Mississippi, where she is a full time artist and art teacher. Her art is available at her studio and the ArtsNatchez Gallery.

Loraine Griffin

painter, illustrator

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Carolyn Gwin

acrylic painting

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John Harter

pencil, pen, charcoal, pastel

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John was born in York, Pennsylvania and raised in Connecticut. He is an Annapolis graduate and during his four years at the US Naval Academy, he was a regular contributor of cover art for the monthly Splinter magazine, and he illustrated the yearbooks. After forty-five years of pursuing an engineering career, John returned to his art endeavors working in pencil, charcoal, and pastel. Presently, he is studying watercolor with Marina Cavette. The subjects he enjoys most reflect his interest in horse handling as well as portraits and historic landmarks. After living for ten months in a trailer in Waveland following the loss of his home to hurricane Katrina, he relocated in Natchez. 

Leon Hollins

photography, painting

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Barbara Gerard Kaiser

painting, pottery, photography

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Born in Natchez, Barbara Gerard Kaiser is a painter, a photographer and a potter. She learned to work in these media through attending many workshops over the years. Her paintings are mostly acrylic and watercolor but she has experimented with oil and pastel. After working as a photojournalist for several years, she now does freelance photography. She loves to get into clay and create forms and shapes of pottery.

Keith Karlson

photography, mixed media

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Ronn Kimbro

pen and ink, photography, computer graphics

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Ronn was born in San Antonio, Texas and moved to Natchez as an infant. He attended school in Natchez at Carpenter #1 elementary school where he learned art techniques with Ms Boles as instructor. He took mechanical drafting with Frank Parsons at Natchez High to prepare for engineering. It was in this class that he learned the art of designing pencil and pen and ink drawings with shadings and perspective. He graduated from Natchez Adams County High School in 1963. He received his AA Degree at Hinds Junior College in 1965. He attended Mississippi State University majoring in Math Education. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Education at Mississippi College in 1968, Masters in Mathematics Education in 1971, and Educational Specialist degree in Counseling in 1977. He married Sandra White Kimbro in 1979. In 1986 he and his wife moved to DeSoto, Texas. Eventually he visited Waxahachie, Texas and drew the courthouse there and drew the five houses on the Gingerbread trails there each year and participated in the craft shows, and sold the drawings, calendars, and note cards in the shops in Waxahachie. He visited Denton, Dallas, and Wise County and drew those courthouses and historical homes in those areas and sold artwork in those areas. In 2005 he retired from Texas, and came back to Natchez to teach and counsel. He is now counselor at Trinity Episcopal Day School, and is happy to be back in Natchez where so many historical homes offer expansion for his love for artistic design.

Growing up in Hawaii, Sandy was deeply impacted by the spectacular color, and unusual shapes of her island paradise home. The need to capture those amazing sights soon became a driving passion. Her mother, a creative soul herself, arranged for Sandy's first oil painting lesson. Since then she has always been happiest with a brush in her hand. She studied art in university and upon graduation taught art in elementary as well as high school. She continued her art education at the well known Scottsdale Marist School where she was exposed to some of the finest painters painting today. Among them were Matt Smith, Phil Beck, Scott Christianson, Nancy Chaboun, and others who gave workshops at the school on a regular basis. She went on to illustrate an award winning children's book . She has entered many juried shows and won acclaim in some of them. She has shown her work in Hawaii and in Scottsdale, Arizona where she lived prior to moving to Natchez..

Salongo Lee

photography, mixed media installations, mono printing

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Salongo's goal is to live each and everyday creating art that stimulates an emotional response in the viewer and brings joy to him. His art is a gift from the creator through his heart and into the world. It is created because his art needs to exist and be shared by others.

Tim McCary

photography with oil

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Timothy G. McCary, a native Mississippian, has been immersed in the visual arts since he was six years old. In high school he was bitten by the photography bug and apprenticed with S.J. Parham, an Oxford, MS portrait photographer. He learned the basics of photography, composition, lighting and incorporation of a variety of media such as oils and pastels to enhance the final appearance of the photograph. While earning a degree in Photography at the University of Southern Mississippi, he received the Outstanding Photographic Student Award. He joined the Mississippi-Alabama Professional Photographers Association where he won the prestigious “first timer’s award” given to the highest scoring photograph entered by a beginning member. In 1989, he was named Mississippi Photographer of the Year and has won over forty print awards. His work is found in homes throughout the Southeastern United States and in several foreign countries. In 1985, he and his wife, Penny, settled in Natchez. A firm believer in continuing education, Tim attends several workshops a year, studying with the top photographic artists in the world. He is a member of the Dead Artist’s Society, a fellowship of twenty-first century artists dedicated to discovering their own artistic voices.

Deborah McNeal

wood, fabric, sculpture clay, canvas

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McNeal, a folk artist who grew up in her grandmother’s house on Cemetery Road in Natchez, attributes much of her inspiration to her childhood memories and her grandmother’s proverbs.“When you pass my house, if you keep going, you’d run right into the river,” explains McNeal, who still lives in her grandmother’s house today. “My grandmother used to say things like: ‘One bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,’ and ‘A stitch in time saves nine,’ and I use these sayings to paint my scenes,” said McNeal. “I left Mississippi for a while and lived in North Carolina and this is where I really started getting into arts and crafts.”  McNeal paints in acrylic on wood, but she also enjoys quilting, making woodcrafts, life-size dolls and life-size sculptures.

Robin Person

jewelry

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Robin Person moved to Natchez in the summer of 2008. Her passion for jewelry making sprang from her line of custom wine charms, rings that attach to the bottom of stemware to keep track of your glass. Beginning with semi precious stones, she was soon attracted to the luster, colors, versatility and beauty of pearls. Each of her creations is unique. In addition, she makes custom jewelry designs as well as custom sizing, so that the jewelry is specifically for that person.
She also repairs jewelry, including restringing, reworking and replacing or altering clasps.

Helen Rayne

oil, acrylic

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A Natchez resident, Helen has done pencil drawing all her life. When she was 15, she did an excellent pencil drawing of her grandmother. In the 1950s, she began painting in oil and in addition, she now paints in acrylic, pastel and watercolor. While experimenting with oil paint, she enjoys using the palate knife. Mostly self-taught, her education has come from other artists, who have held classes demonstrating their work. She takes most pleasure in portrait painting, with the subject before her, which she begins with a very good pencil drawing.

Becky Reeves

metal work

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Sharon Richardson

oil

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Sharon was born in Woodville, lived in Natchez as a preschooler, and returned to visit cousins during the summers after moving away. Upon graduation from the University of Georgia, she moved back to Mississippi where she began painting and, with another artist, ran a painting workshop business in the Jackson area for six years. This enabled her to raise her two children while studying painting in pastel, watercolor, acrylics, and oil with prominent artists from across the nation. The Impressionists, whose work she saw in later travels to American and European museums, influenced her most. In 1995, she married Jim Barnett, a Natchezean, and moved back to Natchez where she creates oil paintings outdoors and in her studio. She's passionate about painting because it's such an exhilarating, heady experience, and she attributes her penchant for painting sun-dappled dirt roads to her childhood fascination of their magic in the Woodville and Natchez area.

Doris Rodriguez

oil

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Beginning with acrylic paint, Doris moved to oils as her favorite medium. She has studied art concepts and techniques with teachers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee. Her subjects include floral, still life, and landscapes, employing traditional and abstract methods. Painting is a happy pastime that she enjoys.

Margaret Watts

multimedia

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Margaret is a native of Natchez, has lived in the area most of her life, and now divides her time between her Natchez studio and Colorado, where she has studied composition with Dr Oksana Ross. She traveled in Cambodia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Mexico while studying with M Douglas Walton. Her mixed water-media paintings (acrylic, inks, papers, plastics, and metal) include semi-abstract and experimental pieces (on paper, canvas, board, would, tarpaper, and linoleum) and are tempered by a decreasing dose of realism. Her colors are bold, from an unlimited palette dominated by warmth and influenced by Asian and Latin American themes. She usually starts with a tight drawing and then edits to revise to a looser painting and employs collage to explore depth with texture, experimenting with new styles and techniques. Her paintings are complex and are intended to communicate through visual enjoyment, not only to instruct, but also to inspire and quicken the senses.

Carmen Wilkinson

painter

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Carmen Wilkinson is a Mississippi Artist whose mission statement is, "God created Us to Create."  She has been painting a little over a year but has always had the desire to paint since she was a small child. She attempted to paint some through the years but always felt as if she came up short or empty.  The summer of 2009 she prayed and asked God to give her the ability and talent to paint. She soon aquired 3 canvas and some paints. Right as she painted on the last canvas and was fixing to "Give Up" something inside her spirit shifted and she felt as if, in her own words, "Something just clicked." She began to have fun. She quit trying to paint what she thought would please others and she began painting what she felt inside her soul. She began to paint to please herself. She was so excited she began to show her work to her loved ones and recieved such positive feedback she was asked to have an exhibit at her local library. Since that time she has exhibited her work in Jackson, MS, Vicksburg, MS and Brookhaven. As well as at The Studio of Art and Design in McComb, MS. There are a couple of shows and festivals she has attended as well and she has made a couple of donations to worthey causes. She paints weekly and enjoys showing her work. The medium she is most comfortable with is acrylic but she does experiment with many other mediums.  Mrs. Wilkinson said, "When I leave this earth people may have a photograph of me and that is good, that will show the outside me, But if they have one of my paintings, they will have a piece of my spirit, a piece of my personality, something far deeper than  an outward photograph. I intend to paint as long as I live on this earth." Mrs. Wilkinson has also volunteered at the elementary school and worked on various art projects with the students. The only formal art training she had was 'art appreciation' at SWMS community college in Summit, MS and she attended 3 private art lessons. She has even had 3 of her own students and enjoys teaching her own children as she learns knew things herself. Her favorite modern artist are Charles Crossley, Michael Indorato, and her brother Willie Harrell Jr.