For Lois Tice, painting American Indian ceramics and other crafts is a way to pay homage to her ancestry.
Both Tice, 63, and her husband Herb, 70, are part Cherokee.
A collection of Lois’ work — painted ceramic Indian busts, totem poles, even Western cowboys — are on display at the McComb Library through the end of the month.
The Tices moved to Pike County’s Pricedale area about 10 years ago, making their way across the country from Bakersfield, Calif., to be nearer to Lois’ sister.
Tice’s interest in ceramics came second-hand. She was sitting with an older woman who painted ceramics, and Tice thought it would be a good hobby.
“I started in 1984 with Christmas items — penguins, reindeer, Santa Clauses, you name it. Pretty soon, I had it all over the place in my house,” Tice said. “Now I know they were nothing compared to what I do now.”
Perhaps her most challenging pieces are cattle heads that she paints and decorates.
“We go to Laredo, Texas, to get them,” Tice said. “They have warehouses full of them … all sizes.”
She paints them, decorates them with American Indian themes, feathers, dream catchers, leather and fur. She uses lots of tourquoise and coral — colors favored by the Cherokee Nation.
Three of the large skull pieces are on exhibit at the library, including one that’s done in patriotic colors.
“I made him red, white and blue,” Tice said. “American Indians were the founders of America. They are true Americans.”
One of the pieces on exhibit is a bust of a chief wearing a fur war bonnet.
“That one is my jewel,” she said. “It kind of reminds me of my grandfather and some of my uncles, his sharp features, the nose and black, slick hair. … I’m proud of my Cherokee heritage.”
Indeed, Lois’ name is on the Dawes Indian roll in Oklahoma.
Herb, an Oklahoma native who lovingly calls his wife, “Sweetie” and other terms of endearment, is Lois’ biggest fan.
“There’s no way I could sit and do that, with all the intricacies of this,” he said. “She does a great job.”
Lois, who has had three major back surgeries, is limited to how much she can do at a time. She may be able to complete a piece in eight or nine hours, but she’ll spread the work out over several weeks.
She doesn’t make the ceramic pieces; she buys the bisque shapes already made, then goes to work on them, adding paint, feathers, beads and fur pieces.
A market for her work has been created by word of mouth. But people who want any of her decorated pieces will have to act soon.
Lois is missing her family back in California — including a new granddaughter and great-grandson — and it looks like she and Herb will be packing up and moving back West.
Information on how to reach Tice is at the library display.
