Artist's Biography

Artist Elizabeth James Perry
(photo courtesy of Jeanette Vanderhoop)

Aquinnah Wampanoag/Eastern Band Cherokee artist Elizabeth James-Perry harvests local natural resources such as quahog and whelk shell, white cedar bark, and milkweed bast, for making original art and museum-quality reproductions; she draws inspiration from the rich, early-Contact period of Eastern Woodlands material culture and folklore. She has practiced finger-weaving, beaded oblique weave and jewelry design for many years. Her work is exhibited nationally at Indian museums and art markets, including the Heard, Peabody Essex Museum and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Elizabeth shares her knowledge of coastal Algonquian culture through writing and exhibit design in Massachusetts; she recounted her families whaling history for the radio program The Telling Takes Us Home. Her most recent work explores traditional Native dyestuffs and woven quillwork, with funding from Native Arts New England program, New England Foundation for the Arts. Elizabeth is also a participant in the National Artist Exchange between Eastern Band Cherokee Indians and NEFA, with a group of New England and North Carolina artists and performers. She will be teaching traditional arts at the Aquinnah Cultural Center on Marthas Vineyard this spring. Elizabeth attended the Rhode Island School of Design and holds a degree in Marine Biology.

Milkweed hand-spun with natural dyes, a fiber traditionally used for clothing and pouches throughout North America. 2009.

This traditional Eastern Woodlands envelope bag is hand woven using the twining technique from naturally-dyed, organic 2-ply hemp yarn. The title is: Thunderbird Over Red Earth, named for the reflection of the warm, coppery-red light reflected at wintertime sunrise off the cedars in front of my house. First place award in Division G. Textiles, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Art Market 2010.

A traditional form of Wampanoag eel trap constructed from ash splints and cedar bark for a maritime arts demonstration. Folklife Festival, Seattle, Washington. 2003.