Artisans
David Mize
David Mize, woodworker and owner of Little Mill Woodworks, had a background in construction but came to enjoy creating the smaller objects to be used inside a home rather than building the house itself.
His shop is named for the Little Mill flour and feed mill that used to be an important part of Trigg County life. The mill is gone, but many of the hardwoods that now grow around the mill’s stone foundations, such as: cherry, walnut, ash, and tulip poplar, are used by Mize to produce his one-of-a-kind furniture pieces. His shop sits on a cliff overlooking the old mill site.
The simple, functional nature of the furniture one sees at the Shaker Village is one of the main influences for Mize’s designs, along with the famous works of Roycroft and Nakashima.
According to Mize, “I hope you use these pieces and enjoy them as much as I did when creating them, and I know they'll be lovingly passed on to the kids & grandkids one day.”
Dodie Wrocklage-Harp
As a jewelry designer and metalsmith, my work is a testament to the delicate beauty of nature and a plea for its preservation. Inspired by the often overlooked elements in the natural world, I strive to capture ephemeral moments in wearable art. Through meticulous processes like fabrication, vitreous enameling, and lost wax casting, I aim to evoke the essence of nature’s subtle wonders. Occasionally, I incorporate actual natural objects, adding a tangible connection to the environment. My creations serve as both adornments and reminders, urging appreciation and conservation for the intricate tapestry of life that surrounds us.
“. . . I strive to capture ephemeral moments in wearable art.”
Christine Roth
“I like to make pieces that are beautiful but also functional.-that can be a part of your everyday life but also special. I also love the tactile texture. These current pieces have a very touchable glaze. My favorite pieces are the craggily ones, the rough ones. I find that there is beauty in ugly. Everyone sees something different. It’s like an ink blot test, and I like that about it. I like it heavy and tangible, where the whole family can interact with it without fear. I think that important about art. Everyone should be able to interact with it. You shouldn’t have to be so careful.”
Kevin Mize
“These lamps are a culmination of many influences. The love of nature, a background in architecture, the experience of building, and a passion for light, all combine to form these sculptures. The blooms are primarily made of re-purposed plastic containers that have been layered and heated. By making these lamps, I hope to inspire people to be less wasteful, more resourceful and to manifest beauty in whatever way possible.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”
Kevin Mize, Lotek Designs
Laura Gillespie
Laura Gillespie creates functional pottery and whimsical clay sculptures from her studio in Cadiz, Kentucky. She’s been practicing her craft for almost 20 years, selling her work in regional shows and shops. She originally studied under Paul and Trisha Ferrell of Brushy Fork Creek.
Tina Bruce
Tina Bruce is a wife, mother and grandmother who enjoys painting, drawing, sewing and reading. She has lived in Christian County for 27 years and has been an avid supporter of Milkweed since we opened. Her quilted Microwave Cozies will hold most container types while in the microwave, allowing you to pull them out safely without burning your hands.
Tarryl Booker
Tarryl Booker is a craftsman and an artist who loves to create. He started making waist beads as a hobby, and then it became therapeutic. Waist beads can express honor for ancestors, make a political statement, or say, "This just feels good."
Traditionally, African waist beads were worn as symbols of womanhood, fertility, protection, or spirituality as early as the 15th century. Beads are often worn as a status symbol outside the clothes.
Inside the clothes or without clothes, they are symbols to a husband or lover.
Women of all shapes and sizes can confidently adorn themselves with waist beads. They are usually worn aiono the panty or bikini line and not the actual waist, so it allows for all women to comfortably wear waist beads.
Wearing them is a personal reflection and appreciation for your God-given beauty. Wearing waist beads is deeply personal, and there is NO right or wrong reason for wearing them. They are for ALL women of ALL backgrounds & cultures.
Shannon Duffy
Shannon Duffy, an artist living in Western KY, has a master's degree in Metalsmithing (small metals) from Arizona State University. She’s been a practicing metalsmith for over 20 years and has taught her craft part-time for Murray State University and the Paducah School of Art. Each piece is made by hand using traditional methods.
Chandler Williams-Cartozzo
Chandler Williams Cartozzo lives with her family in Nashville and runs Chandler's Dezigns, her own line of handmade jewelry. Made with only her hands and a pair of pliers, her jewelry boasts crystals and gemstones and incorporates intricate wire wrapping styles. Her deep love of Mother Earth shines in each of her pieces.
Her work can be found for sale in stores around the United States, at area craft shows and online. Chandler is a big supporter of the shop small movement and deeply believes in the importance of helping others to collectively bring positive change to the world. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, gardening and sharing with her young son the importance of caring for the natural world around us.
Jane Olmsted
Jane Olmsted is a poet and writer living in Bowling Green, KY. Her novel, Letters from the Karst (2024), and memoir, The Tree You Come Home To (2021), were published by Legacy Book Press. She has many other published books, and her individual poems and stories have been published in many journals. She earned a Ph.D. in English, with a minor in feminist studies, at the University of Minnesota in 1996 and taught at Western Kentucky University for 25 years, producing scholarly work focused on American, African American, and Native American literature, with an emphasis on race and gender. Recently retired, she spends her time writing, working on her farm, and producing yarn crafts. She's married to retired Hopkinsville Community College professor, Ken Casey.
"Everyone knows a piece of you, and yet no one knows the one piece."
Letters from the Karst
Samantha Michaud
Samantha Michaud is a crocheter & avid plant keeper from Hopkinsville. All of her creations are handmade and customized in her home where she spends most of her time as a stay-at-home mother to her 2-year-old son, Milo. She learned her crocheting skills from a family member a few years ago and began making small projects for friends and family, crocheting as a side hobby that turned into a lucrative practice during the summer of 2021. Her skills and attention to detail increased immensely and brought a lot of positive attention and feedback to her crocheted hats. Now, her business, Stitches by Sam, is expanding and her pieces can be found in local shops.
Crocheting has been a source of relaxation and has provided time to self-reflect when she isn't busy taking care of her son or working as a manager at Harper House in Cadiz. In 2019, she received a bachelor's degree in Biology from Austin Peay State University, graduating with honors, and she aspires to have a career in wildlife conservation and preservation where she can be an advocate for the environment and its species. Being a leader and informing the public of the environment's importance to our future is one of her several ambitions.
Samantha Malik
Samantha Malik works with multiple forms of glass, including stained glass, mosaics, and glass fusion, often including mixed media to reflect issues and trends in society. She currently lives outside of Chicago but previously lived in Kentucky and Tennessee and still has family ties here. "I like the versatility of glass; opaque, translucent, melt-it-together or cut and foil it. Mix it up and make something someone will love."
—Samantha Malik
Doug Ridley
Doug Ridley's intricate wood sculptures have been displayed and sold all around the U.S. and many foreign countries. Doug started carving because his wife Mary believed he could do it. One day, back in 1978, Doug bought Mary a hand-carved wood decoy by one of his co-workers, Bob Danby. As they studied and admired the details of the carving, Mary told Doug that he could carve one just as well. Some time passed and Mary had an opportunity at an auction to purchase a large collection of wood-carving tools and some wood blanks, so much stuff that it practically filled their kitchen. That investment and his wife’s continued confidence, led Doug to try carving his first wooden decoy. He had some experience making furniture, but he had never attempted a detailed carving. "Once I started carving," said Doug, "the furniture making went out the the door.”
Martha Wilcox
" I like to think that as artists, we desire to express our thoughts and feelings about life and death, joy and sad-ness, hope and despair, and many other human experiences. I think most artists realize how fortunate we are to have found a very personal way to accomplish this. There is an intimate involvement in sculpting, a connection to the piece that helps me reach, touch and hopefully connect with others." - Martha Wilcox
Nathan Parker has loved nature since he was a child. His passion for the natural world and his incredible imagination has led him to create paintings of prehistoric creatures, whose fossils show the shape of the body, but whose skin remains a mystery. Parker composes colorful works full of movement and interest, creating scenes of prehistoric animals with his interpretation of what they may have looked like and how they may have interacted.
Nathan Parker is a native Tennessean, hailing from Dotsonville and currently residing in Nashville.