Dee Croaker Artisty

Boozhoo!!!

My name is Dee....

I am a multidisciplinary artist and a member of and raised on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota. Art has influenced me since I was a young child, from my stepdad teaching me guitar and classic rock, and my mom about singing, crocheting, dancing and quilting. My mom took every opportunity when I was a child to experiment and learn different forms of art, creating an environment where I learned to focus better while expressing myself. As a teen, we learned to quilt from Anishinaabe elder Lena Cloud from Inger, Minnesota. We made several block quilts using those teachings, sometimes completing 2-3 a day. The teachings I learned during this time in my life and those moments spent together became a way to heal from my past, traumas, and grief. My mom's sudden passing in 2017 had me looking back on these moments and using it as a way to help fund her funeral expenses. What started as 40$ of material from Joanne Fabrics has become a way to reconnect with the good times and memories while navigating my way through the grief of her passing. 

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I have continued with my art, exploring, learning and experimenting once again as a way to continue on this path of healing. I picked up the needle again, only this time a beading needle, and remembering what I was taught as a child from my Step aunt Dorothy Jenkins, I started to learn more beading techniques and styles. I felt a pull to combine different techniques along with my artwork to create Jewlery Collections that tell a story! My art has become a way to not only capture moments in time, but to bring to life images found in my dreams.