• Source: Elizabeth James-Perry

Elizabeth James-Perry (born 1973) is a Native American artist and restoration ecologist. A citizen of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, she carried on the Indigenous tradition of scrimshawing after learning about Northeastern Woodlands scrimshawing from her mother and Wampanoag clothing during a trip to Europe. She creates wampum beads and Wampanoag textiles and is a 2023 National Heritage Fellow.




Early life and family


Elizabeth James-Perry was born in 1973. She began studying this art form after learning about it from her mother, Patricia James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag, born 1944), who specializes in scrimshaw. While traveling in Europe, she learned about colonists' mistaken belief that the paint on the Wampanoag clothing was, according to her, "fine lace on leather". Her newfound knowledge about past Wampanoag artists inspired her to preserve traditional knowledge.
James-Perry is a citizen of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Aquinnah, Massachusetts. As of March 2023, James-Perry lives in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. In addition to her mother, her brother Jonathan is also a scrimshaw artist, and other influences include her cousins Helen Attaquin (her basket weaving teacher) and Nanepashemut Tony Pollard, both artists, and her coiled pottery teacher Ramona Peters.




Art career


As an artist, James-Perry specializes in wampum, natural dyeing, and textile art. She hand carved and polishes wampum beads because she wants wearers to "get a sense of being involved in the story of the piece", thus supporting Native American culture. Allison Hill described her work "as extraordinarily beautiful and exquisitely hand-crafted", also saying that it involves "weav[ing] historical research and familial knowledge [...] to reflect deep cultural and historical significance".
The New Bedford Whaling Museum hosted "Ripples: Through a Wampanoag Lens" (2020–21), an exhibition of her wampum and scrimshaw work to highlight Wampanoag cultural continuity. In 2021, James-Perry worked on Radiant Community, one of the two installations in "Garden for Boston", a collaboration with Ekua Holmes outside the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Paige Curtis described Radiant Community, in which the Cyrus Edwin Dallin statue Appeal to the Great Spirit is surrounded by corn, beans, and sedge grass in reference to the Three Sisters of Indigenous agriculture, "as a counterproposal to [the statue], asserting the beauty of a neighboring community now facing rampant gentrification." She also worked as an artist-in-residence and teacher at Amherst College from 2021 until 2022.
In September 2023, she started two solo exhibits: Double Arrows at Tufts University and Seeping In at the Mead Art Museum.




Ecology and tribal preservation


James-Perry has a degree in marine science from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and also works on ecological restoration projects, including the reintroduction of native plant life and participation in consultation processes. She had previously worked as a tribal preservation officer, an experience that inspired her "deeper appreciation for tribal territories and tribal waters".




Collections


Her artwork is in the permanent collections of the Montclair Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Peabody Essex Museum, Tropenmuseum, and the Wallraf–Richartz Museum.




Awards and honors


In February 2023, James-Perry was announced as one of the eight 2023 National Heritage Fellows. She was the first Wampanoag person to be selected as a fellow. She said that her status as fellow will increase broader visibility of the Indigenous art of the Northeastern United States. In August 2023, she participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market.

2010 Heard Museum Art Market Textile Division First Place
2014 Mass Cultural Council Fellow
2023 National Heritage Fellow
New England Foundation for the Arts Grant
Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship




Selected exhibitions


2020
Ripples: Through a Wampanoag Lens, New Bedford Whaling Museum
2023
Double Arrows, Tufts University
Seeping In, Mead Art Museum
undated
Aquinnah Cultural Center
Boston Children's Museum
Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
Peabody Essex Museum
Roger Williams University




References






External links


Elizabeth James-Perry, official website
Elizabeth James-Perry: 2023 NEA National Heritage Fellow, National Endowment for the Arts
NPR's Marketplace
Cape Cod Times
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
Forbes

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