This book is an Eric Hoffer award finalist for excellence in indie publishing.
Wampanoag Art for the Ages, Traditional and Transitional is the first and only book of its kind. With interviews of foremost Wampanoag artists accompanied by 80 color photos, the book looks at the lifeway of this Algonquian Cape Cod tribe which greeted the first colonists, through its arts. Starting in the wetu (home) the book goes on to look at pottery, wampum, clothing, adornment, matting, twining, finger weaving, contemporary arts and painting, and more -- with Wampanoag creators including: Annawon Weeden, Ramona Peters (Nosapocket), Elizabeth and Jonathan James-Perry, Julia Marden, Robert Peters, Emma Jo Mills Brennan, and Mother Bear. The book includes an appendix of where to see some of the works of art.
Author Lee Roscoe beautifully articulates the tribe's spiritual and material lifeways through their arts. She had access to the tribe's artists thanks to her years of activism, spearheading the saving of hundreds of acres land, some sacred to the tribe, organizing thousands of signatures in favor of the tribe's federal recognition, and writing numerous articles about the tribe for Provincetown Arts magazine, The Cape Cod Times, Journal of the Genealogical Society of Cape Cod, The Cape Cod Chronicle, etc.
Lee is a longtime journalist, covering arts, science, history and hard news, currently a correspondent for Artscope and Provincetown magazines. She is a Woods Hole Ocean Journalism fellow, an awarded environmentalist, and playwright of dramas including The Mooncusser's Tale, a Cape Cod radio drama, and the film Dreams from a Planet in Peril. Cape Cod Museum of Art's director calls the film, "an important piece of art." Her work has often been supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
What people are saying about Wampanoag Art for the Ages:
"That human element is the book's key stroke of genius: on page after page, we see the faces and hear the stories of the men and women who are keeping the native arts alive, bringing them into the modern moment with a loving combination of tradition and innovation." - The Martha's Vineyard Gazette
"At a time when our country's museums are reevaluating their offerings and the status of importance given to artists from the North American continent over the past 350+ years, Lee Roscoe's timely book uses the creative history of the Wampanoag Tribe to advocate for greater inclusion of past, present and future indigenous art in their collections." - Brian Goslow, managing editor Artscope Magazine
"Lee Roscoe presents an illuminating look at Wampanoag art across the centuries to current times. Her text celebrates the creativity of the Native peoples of Massachusetts with valuable insight and words from Native creators." - Sarah Johnson, Executive Director, Cahoon Museum of American Art
"Lee Roscoe should be commended for creating a beautiful, meaningful book (itself a work of art), which is unique, the first of kind, that's been very much needed for a long time -- to show so many of our wonderful native artisans' excellence --that they are still doing these things (such as creating wetus and pottery) with class and skill." - Earl Mills, Sachem ttoo-euWamp-si kuk. (Chief Flying Eagle) Mashpee Wampanoag
