Inspiration comes in many forms. Fondren artist Rosalind “Roz” Roy gets it from memories in her life and gives it to others by overcoming physical barriers.
Roz considers herself an inspirational folk artist moved by God. Every piece she paints or sculpts reminds her of a specific person in her life, even if she doesn’t realize it while creating the piece.
“Green grass in the trees reminds me of my brother who died in 2006. The chickens I paint remind me of my great-great uncle, who was a country man from Bolton. The clotheslines remind me of my great-great grandmother, and the little black girls remind me of my nieces,” the 53-year-old artist said.
“I don’t study artists or read about other artists. I don’t look at images to paint or sculpt. It just comes to me sometimes when I sit down ready to do it or sometimes even as I’m doing it. It just depends on the spirit,” she said.
Roz has never been one to sit still, even as a child, when she was diagnosed with polio. She remembers always wanting to spend time doing projects and activities with her hands.
“I talked a lot as a child, and my mother bought me coloring books to keep me quiet. I just love art of any kind, school projects, paper dolls, drawings, anything and everything,” she said.
Her studio and gallery, Heavenly Design, hold quite the menagerie of creations, canvas paintings, collages, clay sculptures, note cards and stationery, and even hair bows, dresses and T-shirts.
“I call that my wearable art. When my brother had my nieces, they became like my dolls. I could dress them and comb their hair. That was a whole new inspiration for me,” Roz said.
A 1979 graduate of Provine High School, Roz studied art at Jackson State University for three years before dropping out to pursue her own design business, creating stationery and graphic cards from a computer paint program.
“None of my teachers really liked me. I liked art, but I wasn’t focused. I had one professor who saw something in me, and he said ‘Roy, if you could just slow yourself down, you’d really have something.’ He told me I could be a great artist one day, but God wouldn’t let me see it,” she said.
After college, Roz did some freelance work and spent most of her time taking care of her ailing father. It was in 2003 when her personal and professional lives took monumental turns.
“Two weeks before my dad died, I was introduced to this organization called VSA Art Mississippi, which was a non-profit that promoted the artwork of people with disabilities,” she said. “I started taking classes they offered at Tougaloo College, and I really started getting into it all.”
Her talent grew from there, and she started working with clay to make sculpted characters such as Big Booty Lucy and Gone Laquita, two of her more well-known creations on display in her gallery on North State Street.
In 2006, after her only brother died of a heart attack, Roz found herself back in the deep despair of grief again, but this time with a therapy that was all her own.
“I just created and created and created some more. I was busier than I had ever been, which was such a blessing. I see now why God sped up the process for me. I didn’t have time to grieve in a sad way. I was inspired,” she said.
Roz spends much of her time now hosting workshops for elementary students and teaching classes at the Mississippi Craft Center, in addition to volunteering with other organizations. She’s the true definition of a local artist whose goal is to give back to the community. To her surprise, her artwork has clearly proved to be an inspiration to others.
“I always painted black people. I never imagined white people would like black art. It amazes me,” she said with a laugh and a shrug. “I’m a dreamer, always fantasizing. God showed me that through my struggles art breaks the color barrier. No matter your color, through art you’re communicating.”
STORY Elizabeth Grey
PHOTOGRAPHS Melanie Thortis
