Wampanoag Art

WAMPANOAG ART FOR THE AGES

Traditional and Transitional 

Published by G Thomas Ryan, Coyote Press,  POB 188, Orleans, MA. 02653

88 pages, soft cover, 11 by  8 1/2, some  80 full color photos. Suggested retail price: $20

ISBN 978-0-578-26292-5 

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.

WHERE TO PURCHASE

WAMPANOAG ART FOR THE AGES is available for purchase online through the link at the bottom of this page. A growing number of book stores are carrying the book as well:

Cape and Islands, MA: Dennis Historical Society, Dennis; Brewster Historical Society; Brewster Book Store; Eastham Historical Society; Cahoon Museum of American Art and Isaiah Thomas Books, Cotuit; Truro Historical Society and Highland Museum; Wellfleet Historical Society; Yellow Umbrella books, Chatham; Eight Cousins, Falmouth; the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum; Sea Howl Books and Addison Art Gallery, Orleans; Books by the Sea, Centerville; Below the Brine Bookshop, Harwich Port; Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown Museum, and Provincetown Art Association Museum (PAAM), Provincetown; the JFK Museum and Bread and Roses, Hyannis; Titcomb’s and the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich; and Edgartown Books, Bowen’s Arrow, Aquinnah Cultural Center, and Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on Martha’s Vineyard.

Elsewhere in New England and beyond: Pilgrim Hall and Plimoth Patuxet Museums, Plymouth, MA; Tomaquag Museum, Exeter, RI; Mt. Kearsage Museum, NH; Wandering Bull, NH; Everyone's Books, Brattleboro, VT; and Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington, CT; Mashantucket Pequot Museum, CT; Amherst Books, Amherst, MA; Copper Dog Books, Belmont, MA; Newtonville Books, Newton, MA; Print A Bookstore, Portland, ME; and Birchbark Books, Minneapolis.

ORDER FOR RE-SALE

Please email Lee Roscoe at leeowl@gmail.com to request wholesale pricing information and discounts available.

AUTHOR TALKS AND BOOK SIGNINGS

2023

Lee will also do pop-up signings at the Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, in tandem with the exhibition of the Wampanoag Ceremonial Wampum Belt, March 15-April 16.

Coffee @ The Kennedy Museum Speaker Series, April 20, 11 AM, JFK Museum, Main Street, Hyannis. (book talk with slides, Q&A, and book signing)

Plimoth Patuxet Museums, May 4

Past Events 

2022

Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, October 8, 5-7 pm.

Social Justice committee of Chatham on October 20, (Zoom)

(video available on request)

Castle Hill Truro Center for the Arts, October 26

Chatham UUA, October 30

(video available on request)

Books and the World, Local access, November

Open University of Wellfleet, at Cape Cod National seashore, November 9

Higgins Art Center, Cape Cod Community College, November 15, 4:30-7 PM, accompanying Wampum Stories from the Shell

Heatherwood, Yarmouthport, November 16, 3:30 pm

Eastham Library, November 22, 6 pm, talk with slides. https://easthamlibrary.libcal.com/event/9600205

Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, December 10, 2-4 PM

Past Events 

2023

Brewster Ladies Library, February 9.  More

Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA, Friday, March 3, 2:00-3:30 PM in the screening room. Presentation, Discussion, and Book Signing. Examples of Wampanoag art will be on display and available for purchase. More

PRESS and PRESENTATIONS

Marcus Hendricks, Annawon Weeden and Lee on The Point with Mindy Todd, NPR WCAI, January 5, 2023

Cover story in Provincetown Independent newspaper, November 24, 2022

Zoom recording of Lee and artists Robert Peters' talk at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill in October

Article in Provincetown Magazine