Stacey's profile
Stacey Cruise is an experienced Professional Learning facilitator, keynote presenter, and TEDx speaker. Semi-retiring in 2020, after 40 years in education, she discovered art making. Since then, Stacey has taken 19 art classes. She found encouragement and rigor in her art classes. Stacey's Black Lives Matter-themed collage was juried and selected for the Maryland State Arts Council virtual art gallery in 2021. In 2022, Stacey made over 100 hand-drawn illustrations for a self-published children's picture book in partnership with her then-8-year-old granddaughter and sponsored by the Maryland State Arts Council ( MSAC).
Stacey is one of the founders of Tribe 55+, a collective of creative Black women over 55. In 2023, MSAC sponsored Tribe 55’s exhibition, Seen, Heard, Common Ground: The Art of the Tribe. Stacey’s original work, The Past Elevates the Future, was showcased at the James E. Lewis Museum of Art (JELMA). In April 2024, Tribe 55+ facilitated” A Convening of Black Women Artists and Writers,” also sponsored by MSAC and held again at JELMA.
Stacey enjoys learning to work with charcoal and building her skills in collage.
