Donna Howell-Sickles has taken the image and idea of the Cowgirl beyond charcoal lines and
into reality. In the Western art genre, she has been exploring the layers beneath the Cowgirl’s
engaging exterior for more than 40 years. Donna, herself, identifies with the self-reliant and
hard-working spirit of the Cowgirl. In 2007, she was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame by
the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. Donna’s work is a part of
the art collections of over 16 museums, including the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Booth
Western Art Museum, the Tucson Museum of Fine Art, Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of
the West, the C.M. Russell Museum, Museum of Western Art, and the National Museum of
Wildlife Art.
In 2011, Donna Howell-Sickles was voted one of the “40 Most Prominent People in the Western
Art World” by Southwest Art Magazine. She was President of American Women Artists from
2000 to 2003, and an honored guest artist at both the National Museum of Wildlife Art in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana.
Donna’s work has been in numerous exhibitions, both solo and group, and featured in multiple
publications over the span of her forty-plus-year career. In 2019, she was chosen as the
singular artist to create the artwork featured as the collectible poster for the Pendleton Roundup
in Pendleton, Oregon. The Pendleton Roundup is the most iconic rodeo in the Professional
Rodeo Cowboy Association. The Rodeo began in 1916 with a featured artist each year, chosen
for their proven history of authentically embodying the spirit of the western heritage in their work.
Donna is the first woman artist to be selected for the honor of creating the poster artwork, and
2019’s poster was the first that prominently showcased all the glory a Cowgirl brings with her. In
2023, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana selected her large format painting for the
Harrison Eiteljorg Purchase Award.
Donna Howell-Sickles’ nationally recognized and distinctive artwork, filled with bright colors and
spirited cowgirls, can be found at Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado, Medicine Man
Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, and Davis & Blevins Gallery in Saint Jo, Texas.
