Wampanoag Art for the Ages, book talk, Eastham Library

This is the first and only book of its kind.  Long-time journalist, playwright, and activist Lee Roscoe was privileged to have unique access to artists.  The book looks at lifeway through the arts of this Algonquian Cape Cod tribe which greeted the first colonists. It starts in the wetu and goes on to look at pottery, wampum, clothing, adornment, matting, twining, finger weaving, painting and more with some of the foremost 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.

Three Wampanoag tribal members vetted the book: Earl Mills, Ramona Peters (Former THPO), and Paula Peters. All the artists talk from their point of view. Typical is Robert Peters’s comment: “What a wonderful tribute to Wampanoag People. Your work is an inspiration artistically and culturally.”  Roscoe had access to the artists thanks to her decades of involvement with the Wampanoag people on Cape Cod. She spearheaded the saving of 300 acres of land in Santuit, some sacred to the tribe. She organized 2,500 signatures in favor of Federal Recognition and wrote 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.