Elizabeth James-Perry and Erin Genia have worked together on a variety of art projects over the years, including creating public art, organizing and giving workshops, talks, interviews and a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship from Mass Cultural Council. They are currently partnering with GreenRoots in Chelsea, MA on a public, community-based art project at Mill Creek, within the Mystic River watershed.
Both Erin and Elizabeth were named as part of the Artery 25 – Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape by WBUR. In 2021, they co-organized the project Centering Justice- Indigenous Artists' Perspectives on Public Art with the New England Foundation for the Arts Public Art Team.
Both Erin and Elizabeth were named as part of the Artery 25 – Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape by WBUR. In 2021, they co-organized the project Centering Justice- Indigenous Artists' Perspectives on Public Art with the New England Foundation for the Arts Public Art Team.
Traditional Arts Apprenticeship
|
Elizabeth James Perry
|
|
Erin has been an apprentice to master artist Elizabeth James-Perry, combining her practice of canupa inyan/pipestone carving with creating Northeastern wampum by hand from the shell of the Atlantic Quahog, a bivalve clam used for food, tools, and purple and white wampumpeak/beads. This inter-tribal apprenticeship expresses the artists' distinct styles and shared values as Native artists, while asking the question, "What does good cross cultural sharing, teaching and learning look like, without cultural appropriation?"
|
Elizabeth James-Perry is an enrolled member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe on the island of Noepe (Marthas Vineyard). Her fine artwork focuses on Northeastern Woodlands Algonquian artistic expressions, Bear Maps, ethnobotany in Garden Installation Raven Reshapes Boston and billboard designs in Boston featuring Wampanoag women. A recipient of a 2023 NEA Heritage Award and 2014 Traditional Arts Fellowship from Mass Cultural Council, the artist holds a degree in Marine Science.
|
Read about their work on hand-sculpted traditional wampum and pipestone art:
Herring Garden: Connecting the Community and to Healthy Earth Cycles through Native Planting, Green Roots, Chelsea, MA
|
The Herring Garden Art Installation is a 2025 project proposed for the brand new Jaime M. Hernandez Park to beautify, illustrate and educate the Chelsea community about Indigenous culture and horticulture practices through the planting of a large Herring Shaped Garden planted with Native pollinator species and sedges important to Native peoples and our environment, and featuring ceramic elements for the fins and the lateral line.
|
Centering Justice: Indigenous Artists’ Perspectives on Public Art, New England Foundation for the Arts
Erin and Elizabeth co-organized Centering Justice: Indigenous Artists’ Perspectives on Public Art, a series of conversations organized in collaboration with NEFA’s Public Art team that consisted of blog interviews featuring Indigenous artists from local, regional and national tribal communities, followed by a public, web-based symposium. The project sought to disrupt harmful historic narratives, interrogate the ongoing legacy and impacts of settler colonization by presenting critical perspectives on issues surrounding public space, including its intertwined economic, ecological, cultural, and social justice dimensions.
The Impacts of Cultural Appropriation on Native Arts in Public Space
Elizabeth James-Perry, Aquinnah Wampanoag Tahnee Ahtoneharjo Growingthunder, Kiowa, Erin Genia, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Facilitated by NEFA Pubic Art Director Kim Szeto |
The Virtual Symposium took place on September 23-24, 2020, it aimed to provide a critical counterpoint to celebrations of colonization that marginalize Indigenous people and minimize the realities for generations of people affected by genocide, slavery, and ethnic cleansing by creating pathways for a strong Indigenous presence in public spaces that continue to exclude Native American peoples on their own land.
Watch all the videos, and learn more about "Centering Justice, Indigenous Artists' Perspectives on Public Art." |