Drawing, painting and creating her whole life, Wani Marshall Coker grew up in Durant, Oklahoma with an insatiable love of art. As such, she took art classes whenever and wherever she could, ultimately graduating from Texas Women’s University with an Art Education degree. She currently teaches high school Sculpture Honors and AP classes in Fort Worth, Tx. While beginning her career as a fine arts teacher, Wani pursued her own art, securing several private commissions, but teaching and raising a family ultimately took time away from her own time to paint. With her family grown now and retirement on the horizon, she is able to focus once again on her own art.

She feels her inspiration comes from the students she has taught over the years, the people and places which surround her, and her deeply-rooted Choctaw heritage. Her great grandfather was one of the original 19 Choctaw code talkers.

When it comes to creating, she feels as though the use of color is of the utmost importance. “Color is a whole other language to me,” Wani says, “When we don’t have the words, color helps us to translate our feelings.” Wani has completed many large paintings for Choctaw Casinos and Resorts and other large commissions around the country.