Mink explains the intricacies of his Cherokee National Holiday artwork | Culture

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee National Treasure Dan Mink was again tasked to design the artwork for the Cherokee National Holiday, which takes place Aug. 29-31 in Tahlequah.

Mink’s design this year has the theme: “Gadugi – Unity Through Generations.” He described all of the pieces of the artwork in his design starting with the outer border on the poster that has 73 interlocking hands representing the 73rd Cherokee National Holiday.

Mink said his process involves thinking of what elements will work to symbolize the theme, sketching out the ideas or going to work in the Adobe InDesign application to start piecing it together.

“I immediately start visualizing the theme,” Mink said in a 2024 interview about his design process. “It could be thousands of things, images that will flash through; some stay, some just go on. I guess just making sense out of the chaos in my head would be the first thing I do.”

For this year’s art, surrounding the hands and the tree are several circular Southeastern motifs that symbolize water and wind in a counter-clockwise fashion to represent the direction of a stomp dance at ceremonial grounds. To reinforce the gadugi theme, the three interlocking swirls symbolize two parties coming together and the resulting action, and also represents our past, present and future as Cherokee people. Seven swirls surround the center of the design representing the seven Cherokee clans.

“In the center of the design, two hands intertwined symbolize the work that goes into working together for a common good, which is rooted in our language, gadugi, and who we are as a collectivist society as Cherokee people,” Mink said.

Behind the hands is a tree symbolizing the strength of family. The tree also has seven main branches that represent the next seven generations, while the roots represent consistency, steadiness and longevity. The Cherokee Nation is committed to protecting its inherent sovereignty, preserving and promoting Cherokee culture, language and values and improving the quality of life for the next seven generations of Cherokee Nation citizens.

The circular crosshatch pattern represents the Cherokee citizen population, in the 14-county Cherokee Nation Reservation and around the world.

Behind the center design, is a quilt design as quilts are typically generational family heirlooms that are passed down through the generations. This element represents the generations coming together in Gadugi, for this year’s Cherokee National Holiday theme.

Mink not only has designed the art for the Cherokee National Holiday, his work can be seen throughout the reservation on signs, posters, T-shirts and other items.

He began working with the tribe in 2005. He trained at the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in Okmulgee in the graphic design program.

Mink said he has been doing art for a long time. He said he rarely has time to sit back and reflect on all that he has done because he is continually moving on to the next project but realizes his art will be around for years to come.

“Now as I get older, I’ll be gone someday, it will still be here. If this is the way that I helped contribute, I’m glad I was here to do it,” he said.