Lowell Lecture
Artist Demonstration: Porcupine Quillwork with Elizabeth James-Perry
Date & Time
Sept. 9, 2018 at noon - 3 p.m.
Location
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115
Driving Directions
Speaker(s)
Elizabeth James-Perry, Artist
Presenting Organization
Topics
Explore the intricate beauty of Native American woven porcupine quillwork. Learn the various techniques and styles used in this traditional form of embroidery and observe as nationally acclaimed artist, Elizabeth James-Perry creates new works of art.
Elizabeth James-Perry, citizen of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head-Aquinnah, is a contemporary and traditional multi-media artist, speaker, and exhibition consultant. She focuses on early Northeastern Woodlands Native American culture, including traditional regalia, diplomacy, and ancient wampum design. James-Perry has revived traditional coastal plant and mineral dye techniques over the past twenty years, using them to create museum-quality textile arts in milkweed and woven quillwork. The artist also explores the rich purple hues of the quahog shell in designing jewelry, sculpting whale and bear effigies, and making fine beads to weave the luxurious drape of collars and belts.
James-Perry’s art has earned awards at the Heard Museum Art Show; the 2014 Traditional Arts Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Rebecca Blunk Artist Award (2015) from the New England Foundation for the Arts. For the past decade, she has worked for her tribe’s Historic Preservation Office, also serving as federal Tribal Co-Lead of the Northeast Regional Ocean Planning Body.
Afterwards, visit the exhibition “Collecting Stories: Native American Art” to learn more about the MFA’s early years of collecting Native American art.