Elizabeth James-Perry

Elizabeth James-Perry (born 1973) is an American artist and restoration ecologist. A member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, she carried on the indigenous tradition of scrimshawing after learning about indigenous 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.

Biography
Elizabeth James-Perry was born in 1973. She started learning about artistic techniques after spending some of her time observing her mother, Wampanoag artist Patricia James-Perry (born 1944), engage in and teach her about her artistic specialization, the Indigenous tradition of scrimshawing. While going on one of her trips to 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.

As an artist, James-Perry specializes in wampum beads and Wampanoag textiles. Her wampum beads are handmade 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". 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.

From September 2020 until March 2021, the New Bedford Whaling Museum hosted "Ripples: Through a Wampanoag Lens", an exhibition of her wampum and scrimshaw work to highlight Indigenous Wampanoag continuance. 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 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 non-local visibility of the indigenous art of the Northeastern United States. In August 2023, she participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market. In September 2023, she started two solo exhibits: Double Arrows at Tufts University and Seeping In at the Mead Art Museum.

James-Perry is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, a federally recognized tribe 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.

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".

Awards

 * 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

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