Michael Cruz

Cayuga Nation (Six Nations), Turtle clan

• Fourth child out of six brothers and sisters• Father: Spanish• Mother: Native American from the Six Nations

reservation, Cayuga, Turtle clan.• Grew up in a bad part of upstate New York, with

drugs and weekly shootings.• Used art and hard work to stay out of trouble• Now lives in a suburban neighborhood in

Spencerport N.Y.• tried everything in art there is, from soap stone

carvings to watercolor, pencil, ink, clay, air brush, acrylics, oils and pastels.

• He experienced his roots spiritually when he visited a powwow called Gathering of Nations

• It was at that powwow where he met original Navajo code talkers and he began painting.

Mother Earth and Father Sky

Sitting Bull

Deer Healer

Eagle Dancer

Project Ideas

• Students think about their surroundings and what has influenced them and their families and make a painting about that.

• Students think about what their people have brought to America and paint that…