Mazinigwaaso A’aw Ikwe — She Beads

This piece will be displayed on the walls of Concourse C at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in honor of MMIW. It is a combination piece of a painting done with nail polish and beadwork.

By VIVIAN LaMOORE, INAAJIMOWIN EDITOR

“I am an artist,” Alicia De La Cruz described herself. Within minutes of meeting her, you will find she is grounded with a hint of whimsy. She is confident, focused, and educated. She is colorful, creative, and spontaneous, yet gracious and humble. And she is proud to be a Mille Lacs Band member living in the Northeast Minneapolis Windom Park neighborhood surrounded by artists. Alicia De La Cruz is cultivating her talents, turning her artwork into her lifework and business.

“I would have been a Rez Baby,” she said with a quiet smile one can feel as well as see. She explained both of her parents had lived on reservations — her mom originally resided on the Leech Lake Reservation and her dad originally called the Mille Lacs Reservation home. That is, before the Indian Relocation Act tore them away from their traditional homelands and separated their families. They did not realize it then, but it is also what brought her mom and dad together later in life.

“My dad was born in 1955. His family was separated as part of the Indian Relocation Act,” Alicia said. “Some were sent to Texas, some to North Dakota, and some to Minneapolis. My dad was born in North Dakota so they sent him there first. His family then moved to Minneapolis instead of staying in North Dakota, because they thought it would be more lucrative. That is where he met my mom.”

Her parents, Rodney and Sharon Dorr, currently reside in Columbia Heights but have never forgot from where they came, their Anishinaabe values, and cultural traditions. They have passed on their knowledge of Ojibwe culture to their daughter Alicia. Particularly the art of beading.

“My Grandma and Aunties on my mom’s side first taught me to bead when I was a little girl,” she said. “I kind of put it aside for a while, but after graduating from high school, I picked it up again.”

After high school, she continued her education, obtaining a handful of degrees including one each in business, Indian studies, and AFA and design visual arts. She is now combining her knowledge with her passion for art and is turning her love for beading, color, design, and culture into her life’s business. She has recently been awarded a grant and fellowship at the esteemed Bell Museum.

“I first heard about the Bell Museum while I was in college — you can see it from the U of M campus — and I just thought I was never good enough to apply,” she said. “But then this year, I did [apply]. I was thrilled to have been selected as one of four out of 30 applicants and then I waited. Finally, one day I opened my email and there it was… ‘Congratulations! You have been selected…’ and I was just so excited and happy!”

The Bell Museum is Minnesota’s official natural history museum, established by the legislature in 1872 and held in trust by the University of Minnesota. According to their website, for over a century, the museum has preserved and interpreted the state’s rich natural history and served learners of all ages. Additionally, the scientific collections contain over one million specimens, representing every county in Minnesota and various locales around the globe.

The fellowship will allow Alicia to spend June through December studying at the Bell Museum with unlimited resources to complete her project. Her focus of the project is to “fuse my beaded art with science and nature to bring awareness as to why we need to protect endangered plant species here in Minnesota. Particularly, looking at plant species that are not only endangered, but are also important to Ojibwe people.”

She was awarded a $4,000 grant to spend as she wishes. “That will go a long way to buy beads!” she said with a laugh. Also, she received a $500 stipend to be used specifically towards her museum project. The fellowship also awards her unlimited assistance from research materials at the University of Minnesota, and they will also help fund travel expenses to dig in and get hands-on cultural resource experiences at the Mille Lacs Reservation. “I will definitely be poking around up there [on the Mille Lacs Reservation] to learn as much as I can and experience the natural resources and learn the plants, and so much more,” Alicia said.

In her beading, she attempts to capture the traditional Ojibwe florals while also adding her own style, giving it a “sort of modern twist,” she said.

Alicia loves to bead the floral designs traditionally used by Ojibwe. Displaying a piece she recently made, she said she would like to learn more. “See this is all floral, but I made this up. I want my work to be more factually based to engage the Native community but also other communities. The fusion of science and art is amazing to me. To bring subjects that seem like polar opposites together into something beautiful and meaningful is the goal.”

“I am really excited they gave a Native artist this opportunity and accepted a Native artist into this program,” she said.

Combining different artistic methods is also a passion of Alicia’s. She is also known for her style of painting and giving her work a 3D element by adding bead work to the painting in many different works such as the piece she created to honor and bring awareness to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Alicia gave her permission for a photo version of that piece to be used in the posters for the Band’s MMIW event, which was held at Health and Human Services on May 5, 2022, and the information on MMIW on page .

From now through December, she will also be sharing her MMIW original artwork with the world, as it will be featured at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on the walls of Concourse C. Two other pieces of her beaded artwork will also be on display at the airport. Those pieces of art will be available for purchase after the exhibit has ended.

A lot of her jewelry and other pieces are also a combination of traditional Ojibwe beadwork and Mexican traditional styles. “My husband is from Mexico. We have been married for ten years. I see my family often, but we do not get to visit his family as often. So, when we visit Mexico, I am inspired by the cultures and places we go when we travel,” she said.

She pointed to one of her beaded creations. “They do beadwork in Mexico, too. So, this is a thunderbird but it is also a sugar skull. See the eyes, and the wings are the teeth. And then I added the Ojibwe florals.”

Alicia is also inspired by other Mille Lacs Band artists. “I love Adrianne Benjamin’s work! I follow her on Instagram, and am so proud of the accomplishments and contributions to the art world she has made for Anishinaabe artists.”

Alicia sells her beadwork through Etsy and Instagram where you can follow her as @waboozbeading. When she is not busy beading, she can be found creating her own regalia and making and selling her own line of nail polish. The polish can also be found on Instagram at @leeshaslacquer. “Creating the nail polish is easy, but I shouldn’t tell people it is easy!” she said with a giggle. Interestingly, she often uses her own nail polish to paint the backgrounds for her artwork and combines the beading and painting.

She plans on attending the Mille Lacs annual traditional powwow in August, wearing her new jingle dress she is currently sewing and a new bead-trimmed hat she is working on. “Stop by and say Boozhoo!”

Alicia is combining her love for science and the Earth with her passion for art and her own unique business style. “Oh, you will be hearing from me again in the future!” she said confidently.

There is no doubt in that.