Perkins, a Virginia native, earned her BFA in Sculpture from the Atlanta College of Art. She continued her glass studies at California College of the Arts, apprenticed at Jamestown Glasshouse in Virginia, and later received her MFA in Glass and Material Studies under Jack Wax at Virginia Commonwealth University. Elizabeth has studied with Boyd Sugiki, Lisa Zerkowitz, and Therman Statom at the Penland School of Crafts. She was a visiting artist and lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2003 and an emerging artist-in-residence at Pilchuck in 2004. Currently, Elizabeth is a fellow at the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Village. Her work was reviewed in the New Glass Review 25. The Thief and the Old Maid, created in 2005, is made of family heirlooms, pate de verre, and found objects.