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Featured Artists

We will feature different artists' work quarterly. You will find information about current and previously featured artists here. If you would like to be considered to be featured in the future please contact us!

Winter 2021 Featured Artist-
Sofia Cruz
PictureThis was the first painting I completed after my 20 year hiatus
Sofia Cruz lives near Itasca State Park in Northern Minnesota. She is originally from Mexico, and shares here about her lifelong journey as an artist:
I started painting when I was a little girl living in Veracruz, Mexico. When I was in primary school there was an art competition to honor one of Mexico’s greatest presidents, Benito Juarez. He was the first Indigenous president of Mexico. He was an orphan who overcame great difficulty to become first an attorney, then he was appointed to the Supreme Court, and then he eventually became president. He is remembered for being fair, humble and standing up for the rights of workers. His famous quote is, "Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz", meaning "Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace".
For the contest I used watercolors to paint a picture of a pathway leading from the mountains to the city, in honor of Benito Juarez's journey from his rural birthplace to the city; a 40 mile journey that he made on foot when he was just 12 years old. I won first place in the competition and my work was displayed in a mural on the wall in my school. 
In high school I won first prize in another art competition with the theme of something that made me happy, and I used acrylics to paint a picture of children playing in the schoolyard. I remember my prize vividly: beautiful colored pencils, a pair of fancy pens, and a globe. 
After high school I wanted to go to art school to continue working on my artistic talent, but my family couldn’t afford it. Instead, I went to school to be a secretary. For the next 20 years I didn’t paint as my life was busy working, providing and caring for my family.
In the year 2000 I moved to northern Minnesota with my husband, and he gifted me some oil paints after I shared with him my love of painting in my youth. This thoughtful gift prompted me to begin painting again, and I found much inspiration in the quiet, peaceful settings of this area. My husband is a woodworker and creates original frames for my paintings.
Now I have a lot of time to create art, with paint and colored pencils. I like to draw and paint nature, lakes, local wildlife and flowers. I have painted several murals on the walls in my home, as well as portraits of friends, family and pets. I am happy to do custom paintings, including portraits, signs and murals. If you are interested in an original art commission, please contact me at Cruzcleo50@yahoo.com

Fall  2020 Featured Artist-
Margaret Noodin and Shannon Noori
PicturePoet Margaret Noodin (left) and Visual Artist Shannon Noori (Right)
Margaret Noodin received an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She is Professor of English and American Indian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also serves as the Associate Dean of the Humanities and Director of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education. She is the author of Bawaajimo: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and Literature, Weweni and What the Chickadee Knows (Wayne State University Press) which are both bilingual collections of poetry in Anishinaabemowin and English. To hear her work, visit www.ojibwe.net. 


Shannon Noori graduated from the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science & the Arts in 2019 with a B.A. in Communications Studies, American Culture and Digital Studies Minor. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she works full time and enjoys expressing creativity through painting and digital design in her free time. 


Spring & Summer 2020 Featured Artist-
Dee Croaker
PictureDee Croaker, photo taken by Nedhaness Rose Green
Deanna “Dee” Croaker – A multi-media artist and Leech Lake Band Member from Cass Lake, Minnesota. Dee focuses her creative energy to making Star Quilts, Beaded Jewelry, and Photography.  Her styles incorporate traditional foundations with bold vivid colors and prints. Dee has been quilting since she was 16, and dabbled in beading in her late teens and eventually learning more to make for her and her daughters regalia. 
“I am inspired by the traditional geometric styles of the Ojibwe from the mid 1800’s to around 1900’s.  I focus on bold colors and combinations that sparkle and draw attention. I also enjoy the simplicity of the smaller floral earrings that give a nod to beadwork I saw as a child growing up.” 
“My star quilts are made using a self-binding finger-quilted style I learned as a teenager from elder/family friend Lena Cloud.  By combining with the teachings of how to make the Lakota Star Quilt, mine are made by individually cutting and sewing each diamond. Bold color combinations and fun themes make each quilt one of a kind.” 
“The photography I capture aims to capture the natural beauty in and surrounding the Leech Lake Area.  I like to capture that which we may overlook. Many images were captured by just taking a ride and seeing what’s out there today.” 
See more of Dee's beautiful work-

Beadwork & Art: Facebook@misswhitewolfdee  
Starquilts: Facebook@lillypaddydesigns
Photographs: Instagram@miss.whitewolf_photography
Email: dee.croaker@gmail.com


Winter 2020 Featured Artist-
Brian K. Dow
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Brian Dow is a Native American artist from northern Minnesota. He currently lives in Bemidji, MN and originally from Ponemah which is located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.
His journey as a professional artist began just over six years ago on the 14th of January, 2014. Since that time he has encountered significant success in greater Minnesota, including the Bemidji, Duluth, and Metro areas. At the commencement of his career, Measured by the moment his first painting sold, he was working as a custodian at a casino hotel with the Leech Lake Gaming Enterprise. Fast forward to today and that same casino hotel now has a couple of his paintings hanging in their lobby and two additional paintings in another lobby of a separate casino hotel within the same gaming enterprise. From humble beginnings he has been able to earn a respected and well-known name for himself.
His success is not limited to the lobby of two casino hotels though. His paintings are also sold in gift shops from the west in Thief River Fall, Minnesota to Mount Pleasant, MI to the east. Aside from numerous pieces of local and far away commissioned art, he has paintings and framed prints located coast to coast, in twenty four states currently, and also in countries like Argentina, Japan, the UK, and in Canada.
He has Paintings that hang in medical complexes, tribal colleges, tribal council buildings, elementary and high schools, Bemidji State University, drug and rehabilitation facilities, Native Owned casinos, a local juvenile center, on clothing, and most notably the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis. He also has billboards in Red Lake, and at the Red Lake Reservation Borders. He also has murals at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis, along with another at the Thief River Falls Seven Clans Casino Indoor Waterpark. Along with the thousands of people who own a piece of his artwork and clothing, he says thank you from the bottom of his heart.
Brian also had the opportunity to teach his skills to the kids at a local juvenile center in Bemidji, MN. With his six month tenure at the juvenile center he chose three students from the three subjects he has taught and showcased them in his place at the Anishinabe Arts Initiative Exhibit at the Region 2 Art Center located in the Watermark Art Gallery. He thought that this would inspire the children to become better civilians and adults in the future. He also thought that it would bring awareness that we have children who are incarcerated there who are mostly Native American children, that perhaps one day we can rid them of the juvenile system.
Brian has won many awards for his prized paintings and is looking forward to earning more awards as a visual artist in the upcoming future. But today he realizes that it’s not about being an award-winning artist, he realizes that he is here for what the Creator has intended him to do. Is making people happy with his artwork that are mostly given to loved ones as gifts by the people who love and support his work. Without them he wouldn’t be where he is today as an artist.
To contact Brian and purchase original artwork you can contact him by email at bkdvisualart@gmail.com, by phone at (218) 214-1830 or on Facebook at Brian K. Dow Visual Art.

Fall 2019 Featured Artist- 
Faye Neeland (Beaulieu)
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Our featured artist this quarter is Faye Neeland (Beaulieu.) Artist Faye Neeland (Beaulieu) is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe who currently lives in Cass Lake, MN. She is a mother, grandmother, wife, and student working to complete her graduate degree. Faye earned her BA in criminal justice through Bemidji State University. She has always had an interest in art and has worked with several different self-expression including beadwork, photography, poetry, creating regalia and digital painting. Faye Neeland comes from a family of artists and painters, who create art such as leatherwork, beadwork, birchbark, and paintings. The past few years, the artist’s interest has shifted to watercolor painting when she began learning all she could about the different techniques of water coloring and color theory. In 2016, she began an art healing project for survivors of domestic and sexual violence named Project 26. Faye Neeland asked survivors to create pieces to display to the public for viewing. This annual project was meant to offer survivors a chance to heal through their art. She was not only one of the organizers of this project, but a participant as well, healing through her own artwork. Faye Neeland creates images that represent the strength, courage, and resiliency of Indigenous people, mainly women, and girls.  Artist Statement: “I began creating art to begin the healing process. It was through that healing, my art was showing the strength, courage, and resiliency of all Indigenous women.”

Summer 2019 Featured Artist:
​
Brent Hardisty

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Little People Praying to Blueberries and Robin by Brent Hardisty
PictureOffering To His Helper by Brent Hardisty
"From a young age I have always had a keen interest in the arts, essentially my surroundings were the beautifully painted landscapes of the creator himself. I had a great privilege too be born into an ancient culture which is slowly making its way back into mind and hearts of our beautiful Anishnaabeg people, the original inhabitants of turtle island! As we know aboriginals of North America and all over the world have survived quite the battle in the last 400 years. Our spiritual ways were almost eradicated yet retained their stability despite the oppressive acts of religious institutions and power mad groups of individuals. The arts are what define a society in my opinion and I feel truly blessed to be from such a spiritual and immersive culture as my own. The powerful images depicted in Woodland developed by the late great Norval Morriseau are my direct influence, along with a bunch of local artists from my area and friends from over the years. I thank you for taking the time too view and appreciate the images and dreams that come too me or are shared with me. Chi Miigwetch Niiwin Binesi Four Birds Brent Hardisty....."


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