Cherokee Heritage Trails

Lucille Lossiah makes double and single weave baskets from white oak, maple, and rivercane. She strips her own cane to make splits and dyes these herself with black walnut, yellowroot, and bloodroot. From her mother, Mary Jane Lossiah, and her grandmother,

Betty Lossiah, Lucille learned the tradition and family styles of basketweaving. Maple weaving, she says, is her favorite because she learned it first. She was born in the Painttown community in Cherokee and graduated from Cherokee High School. As a child, Lucille Lossiah spoke the Cherokee language at home, not learning English until she started school. The Cherokee language is still the primary language she uses for conversations with her mother and her sister.

For fourteen years Lucille Lossiah has demonstrated basketweaving at the Oconaluftee Indian Village where she first learned rivercane basketry. She has demonstrated basketweaving along the East Coast from South Carolina to New York, and she demonstrates at the Atlanta History Museum every other year. Her work is sold at Qualla Arts and Crafts and The Indian Store in downtown Cherokee, and by special order.

Lucille Lossiah will do demonstrations for any size group and will travel anywhere, if given enough advance notice. At least two months prior notice by mail is suggested. She can travel with her sister Ramona Lossie or by herself. Her fee is negotiable but must include travel costs. Lucille Lossiah requests permission to sell her work at demonstrations.