Donna Howell-Sickles was born in 1949 in Gainesville, Texas, where she was raised on a 900-acre farm. When she was entering junior high school, her parents moved the family to New Mexico where she graduated from Lovington High School. In 1972, she earned her BFA from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. During her junior year there, she acquired an old postcard, circa 1935, depicting a cowgirl seated atop a horse. The vintage postcard read, “Greetings from a Real Cowgirl from the Ole Southwest”.
Donna was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2007 honoring her body of work about the cowgirl. Donna’s work is in the collections of several museums, and in 2011 she was voted one of the 40 Prominent People in the Western Art World by Southwest Art Magazine. She was President of American women artists from 200 to 2003 and an honored guest artist at both the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. Her work has been in many exhibitions and featured in several publications. Currently, Donna’s work is represented by Mountain Trails Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Big Horn Galleries in Cody, Wyoming and Tubac Arizona; Davis & Blevins Gallery in Saint Jo, Texas and McLarry Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Artist Donna Howell-Sickles has created another gorgeous charcoal drawing of a grazing buffalo. The charcoal on paper measures 40 x 60 inches and is framed behind museum quality plexi glass.
When artist Donna Howell-Sickles first began to create her cowgirls in the late 70s, she wanted to redefine the wary stereotypes that represented Western women. The intriguing bit behind every piece Howell-Sickles creates is that most have a story behind them—some personal narratives and some belonging to stories most are familiar with. Listen to her story and view her works at Ann Korologos Gallery.