P.E.O. SCHOLAR AWARDS | PSA The Legacy of a P.E.O. Scholar Award
Have you ever stopped to consider the long-term impact and legacy of a P.E.O. Scholar Award? Elizabeth Perrill has demonstrated what that can look like by donating African women’s pottery to various museums as part of their permanent collections. Elizabeth used money from the Scholar Award to return to South Africa to continue her work with Zulu ceramic artists. These women had guided conversations with Elizabeth during extended interviews that began in 2004. Her work with these women helped them to balance economic concerns (selling their pottery) with cultivating their artistic talents. To celebrate this community of artists, Elizabeth developed a touring exhibition that has been featured in the African Art Center in Durban, South Africa, the Faulconer Gallery at Grinnell College, the Indiana University Art Museum and the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s Gatewood Gallery. Afterwards, many of the pots found new homes in museums. These women potters are benefitting from Elizabeth’s work, and museum goers are gaining better insight into another culture.
Elizabeth was awarded the Scholar Award in 2006, graduating in 2008 with her Ph.D. in African art history. Her dissertation was entitled “Contemporary Zulu Ceramics 1960s–Present.” She became a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, which was a women’s university until the 1960s. As a P.E.O. and a Scholar working with these women artists, she relates
Mncane Nzuza with a focal exhibition of her work. November 10, 2006. Vukani Museum, Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
by Terry Northcutt, P.E.O. Scholar Award Board of Trustees
that she finds satisfaction teaching at a college that previously was exclusively for women. Recently, she was promoted to full professor effective August 2021 and is publishing a book, “Burnished: Zulu Ceramics Between Rural and Urban South Africa,” which will be out in the spring of 2022. Elizabeth was also awarded a prestigious Millard-Meiss Publication Grant to support the spring 2022 release of this book being published by the Indiana University Press. When asked which one of her many accomplishments she was most proud of, she replied easily. From 2012-
2018 she was the Consulting Curator of African Art, North Carolina Museum of Art where she oversaw the re-establishment of a permanent exhibit of African art. The exhibit now is three times the size of the previous one and has twice as many works including those acquired during her tenure. This work also led to the creation of a full-time African curator, a position that has been filled previously by consultants. Elizabeth believes this is an important job and is proud to be a part of its creation. According to museum director Lawrence J. Wheeler, this expanded African art gallery and interactive learning space honors the diverse art forms of the continent’s history, present day and future. When Elizabeth is not working, she is caring for a 10-year-old daughter and sometimes being a “roadie” to support her avant-garde musician husband. She laughingly says, “Here I am a Ph.D. and I’m carrying amps on stage!” She also raises vegetables and flowers in a backyard garden. A non-resident member of Chapter NL in Storm Lake, Iowa, she likes to keep in touch with the women in her mother’s chapter. Perhaps one day, her daughter will be awarded a grant, loan or scholarship from P.E.O. and become a third-generation P.E.O. Elizabeth has clearly made a difference…now imagine the difference all our other former scholars have made to impact the world from performing cancer research, going to space, being a television commentator—and the list could go on. P.E.O. continues helping women reach for the stars and having an impact on the world.
Elizabeth Perrill used her P.E.O. Scholar Award to pursue a Ph.D. in African art history
34
THE P.E.O. RECORD | January–February 2022
Women helping women reach for the stars
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease