By Victor Mays
Green grass and cornfields under a blue sky stretching as far as eyes can see. This is the scene young Phyllis Lowery perceived growing up on her family’s farm; and this image inspires the art she creates today.
Lowery’s art is among several featured in the Art Department’s “Hidden Lives Senior Capstone Exhibit.” The student exhibit shows the common human link of various cultures, communities and the people that are in them.
Lowery is a member of the Lumbee Tribe, and she crafts her art to express her culture. Her passion for art started at a young age. On the farm, Lowery picked corn and made baby dolls that she would call her corn babies. Many years later, she came to UNCP and made her corn babies for students to learn about and enjoy her culture.
When people see her art, she wants people to know that this art was done by a Lumbee lady. She hopes to get people to buy her art and take it around the country. Being as authentic as possible is very important to her. Her piece “Cornbaby Mother with 6 Babies in Corn Shucks” was made from ceramic clay and is very colorful for unique reasons.
“The reason I have so many colors is because Indian corn or Native corn has all of those colors in it. So, I can use any colors just about and still blend into my culture,” Lowery said.
One of her pieces “Grandmother Storyteller + 4 Squatting Babies” also made from ceramic clay shows the Storyteller and her babies telling stories about the old days and their culture. Every piece she makes has a story.
Lowery loves tradition. She makes these traditional Cradle Boards which are baby carriers. They are medium sized boards that you put your baby in and tie tightly and keep the baby nice, snug and warm. There were three boards on display. One was made from leather, one from a wool like material, and the other was made from felt material like fabric. Traditionally, they would be made from leather.
To keep up with the traditional style Lowery wanted to find materials that simulated the animals that the natives would have killed and use their fur. They wanted the material to be soft and comfortable for the baby.
The babies would be carried on the backs of whoever is carrying them for long trips. The way the cradle board was made has a hole at the bottom for the babies to go to the bathroom because there were no diapers back in those days. Anything that is baby related is something that Lowery is passionate about.
The Lumbee culture is alive through her and her art. She hopes her passion and artistic expression will stretch across the country; not just for herself but to bring awareness of her heritage and culture to others to learn about. Most important of all the thing she wants to convey more than anything is a sense of herself.
“Phyllis in clay, the story of me” Lowery said.