Photo by T. Scott Williams

Buckshot Dot during Employee Reunion celebrations at Petrified Forest National Park.

While in the park in August, Dee Strickland Johnson entertained park staff and visitors during several Centennial Celebration activities.

Artist Statement

Dot (Dee Strickland Johnson) is a native of Arizona. She grew up on the Navajo and Hualapai reservations, and at the Petrified Forest. In the '70s Dot and her husband John raised Hereford and Angus cattle in the Arkansas Ozarks,but the call of the west was just too strong and they returned to Arizona, the land of Dot's childhood.

While living in Arkansas, she appeared regularly with her children at the Ozark Folk Center and wrote heritage articles for a local newspaper. She has taught at small schools in tiny Ozark communities and in the largest inner city high school in Arizona.

Photo by T. Scott Williams

Buckshot Dot performed at an evening BBQ and dance during the 100th Anniversary Employee Reunion.

Buckshot Dot has been featured at Cowboy Poets Gatherings and concerts in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska and Texas. In addition, she has appeared in concert and sessions in Alabama, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and British Columbia. She was the Academy of Western Artists' 1997 Female Cowboy Poet of the Year, a finalist for that award in 1998 and for video of the year in 1999.

Dot is happily married to John (Ol' Buck) Johnson. They have three grown children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.