"Lenni Lenapi" - Our Native Residents

Artist:   Morris E. Docktor

Sponsor:   Hopewell Valley Community Bank

Artist's Design Statement

“Lenni Lenapi” was awarded Third Place by our panel of Stampede Judges.  Congratulations!

Winning Gala Bid:  $6,500

My design for the ox is twofold. First, it is a portrait of a Randall Line Back Oxen and second, but no less important, is a historical tribute to the Lenni Lenapi, the native residents of the Hopewell Valley for 14,000 years.

I chose to depict the Randall Line Back Oxen Breed for its black and white markings. When the fiberglass ox form is viewed from a distance it should appear as the black and white bespeckeled Randall Ox. When the piece is experienced up close the markings clarify into representational depictions of Lenapi life along the wooded Delaware River in Hopewell Valley.

The native people are depicted in daily life in native costumes, with canoes, encampments, log long house, and temporary shelters. Sadly, they are all but gone from our valley today, but this piece will stand as a lasting and sacred memory of our original neighbors.

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