Elizabeth Perry came to RTB as an agripreneur in 2023. She is an Aquinnah Wampanoag artist who has focused both on wampum and on reviving non-toxic Native dyes
on yarns and porcupine quills. In her quest to achieve the same quality as the fine old examples of Northeastern art scattered in collections here and in Europe, it became apparent that the species distribution is not the same due to a variety of factors. Tribal Land Stewardship shaped the forests and meadows here for a very long time, and it’s good to see organic farms on the rise especially where care is taken to reintroduce diversity. Elizabeth is planting a few different species of milkweed plants at her RTB plot to specifically support her textile arts practice. The stems provide fine fibers for hand spinning that take natural sustainable dyes well in a slightly different palette than chemical dyes. She enjoys combining milkweed with wampum jewelry and also uses the milkweed for distinctive soft-fiber twined basketry and sashes.
