ANADARKO, OK — Native American Choctaw artist DG Smalling honors Delaware Nation once again through his incredible fine art skills with an illustration of the Wolf featured in the design of Coaquannock in acrylic. The top right-hand corner of the map’s border is where you can find the Wolf design that filled Mr. Smalling with artistic inspiration. DG and his business colleagues collaborated to digitize the historic map into a vector format so that every detail can be manipulated, scaled, or reproduced. This allows the Nation to use elements from Coaquannock for cultural marketing and awareness. These graphics could even be used in the gaming industry to create visuals for the Tribe’s casinos! Imagine seeing an incredibly detailed turtle, like the one in Coaquannock, scaled 100 times on a wall with bright colors. A fascinating vision can be conceived from the thought of the historic artifacts Delaware Nation obtains and that is what artist DG Smalling portrayed at the meeting with the Executive Committee.
Mr. Smalling’s contribution to the Nation is an invaluable display of cultural awareness! It honors the tribe by illustrating visuals that were created by those residing here long before us.
Coaquannock is a visual representation of the Lenape homelands, confirming its existence. Every piece of artwork crafted by inspiration of Lenape historical artifacts is another way of saying they were here long before the arrival of the Europeans.
Wanìshi, DG!
Story & Photos by Public Relations Officer Wesley Boone 1/17/2023