The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Artist \Art"ist\, n. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See
   Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
   1. One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan.
      [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            How to build ships, and dreadful ordnance cast,
            Instruct the articles and reward their. --Waller.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who professes and practices an art in which science
      and taste preside over the manual execution.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The term is particularly applied to painters,
         sculptors, musicians, engravers, and architects.
         --Elmes.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. One who shows trained skill or rare taste in any manual
      art or occupation. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. An artful person; a schemer. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Artisan. See Artisan.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

artist
    n 1: a person whose creative work shows sensitivity and
         imagination [syn: artist, creative person]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

148 Moby Thesaurus words for "artist":
   Admirable Crichton, ace, adept, ancestors, apprentice, architect,
   artificer, artisan, artiste, attache, author, authority, begetter,
   beginner, belly dancer, builder, burlesque queen, chorine,
   chorus boy, chorus girl, conceiver, concert artist, conjurer,
   connaisseur, connoisseur, constructor, consultant, copyist,
   cordon bleu, coryphee, crack shot, crackerjack, craftsman,
   craftswoman, creator, dancer, dancing girl, dauber, daubster,
   dead shot, designer, deviser, diplomat, diplomatist, discoverer,
   ecdysiast, effector, elder statesman, engenderer, engineer,
   entertainer, executant, executor, executrix, exotic dancer,
   experienced hand, expert, expert consultant, father,
   female impersonator, first-rater, founder, geisha, geisha girl,
   generator, genius, graduate, grower, guisard, guiser,
   handicraftsman, handy man, hoofer, impersonator, inaugurator,
   industrialist, initiator, instigator, institutor, interpreter,
   introducer, inventor, journeyman, maestro, magician, maker,
   manufacturer, marksman, master, master carpenter, master craftsman,
   mechanic, minstrel, minstrelsy, mother, mountebank, mummer,
   music maker, musician, nautch girl, no slouch, old master,
   organizer, originator, past master, peeler, performer, planner,
   player, politician, precursor, prentice, prestidigitator,
   prime mover, pro, prodigy, producer, professional, professor,
   proficient, public entertainer, raiser, realizer, savant, shaper,
   shark, sharp, show girl, singer, sire, smith, soloist, statesman,
   stripper, stripteaser, stripteuse, technical adviser, technician,
   topnotcher, tunester, vaudevillian, vaudevillist, virtuosa,
   virtuoso, whiz, wizard, wonder, wright