A native of Miami Beach, Florida, Oka Doner received her Bachelor of Science and Design and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan. In 2004 she was awarded the Award of Excellence by the United Nations Society of Artists and Writers.

Michele Oka Doner is an internationally acclaimed artist and designer whose prolific career spans four decades. The remarkable breadth of her artistic production encompasses public art, sculpture, furniture, jewelry, and functional objects. She is perhaps best known for her numerous public art commissions, including those at New York’s Herald Square Subway Station and the Miami International Airport.  Whether for large scale architectural projects or intimately scaled objects, Oka Doner’s work is fueled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world, from which she derives her unique vocabulary.  

Oka Doner’s art can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, and the Chicago Art Instituteamong many others. She has received many grants and honors, including the Kress Foundation Grant,the New York State Council for the Arts Mid-Career Grant, the Triennial Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Society of Writer’s and Artists. She has been a guest speaker at numerous institutions, including the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the University of Michigan, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award, Bard College, TheSchool of Visual Arts, and the American Academy in Rome. She has designed three collections for Christofle in silver, and has just completed her first collection for Steuben Glass.

Michele is represented by Marlborough Gallery, New York, where she has had two recent one-person exhibitions. Books about Michele’s work include Michele Oka Doner: Natural Seduction, Hudson Hills Press (2003) and Michele Oka Doner: Workbook, OKA Press (2004). Reviews and features on her work have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, ArtNews, Sculpture Magazine, and many other publications in the U.S. and internationally.

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