A multiple award winning member of the Cowboy Artists of America, artist Mikel Donahue is best known for his impeccable depictions of cowboy life. His drawings and paintings portray ranchers and their livestock during the day-to-day ritual of sun-up to sun-down work on the ranch. What may seem as mundane chores are captured and translated through his artistic style into moments of meaning and reflection.
Donahue, who was born and raised in Tulsa, was taught about life on the ranch by his paternal grandfather who raised cattle in northcentral Oklahoma. It was Donahue’s maternal grandfather who exposed him to western art at an early age with memorable trips to Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum and what was then the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Fascinated both by life on the ranch and the iconic art by the likes of Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington, as an adult, Donahue has become a perfect amalgam of his influences with a life breeding racing quarter horses with his wife Christie on their place outside Broken Arrow and an award-winning career in the arts.
Mikel is a graduate of the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK and a 33 year veteran and multiple award winning designer of the advertising/graphic design business.
Selected Exhibitions
• Cowboy Artists of America Annual Exhibition & Sale, Ft. Worth, TX
• Cowboy Artists of America Annual Miniature Exhibition & Sale, Museum of the West, Scottsdale, AZ
• Briscoe Western Art Museum, Night of Artists, San Antonio, TX
• Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Quest for the West Art Show, Indianapolis, IN
• Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Buffalo Bill Art Show, Cody, WY
• National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Prix De West Invitational, Oklahoma City, OK
• National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Small Works-Great Wonders Exhibition & Sale, OKC, OK
• Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK
• C.M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT
• The Society of Animal Artists Annual Exhibition & Sale
• Phippen Museum, Miniature Masterpiece Show, Prescott, AZ
• Oklahoma Capitol Building, Governor’s Gallery – One Man Exhibition, Oklahoma City, OK
Selected Awards
• Cowboy Artists of America (CAA): Gold Medal – R. Watson Boots True West Award, Silver Medal – Mixed Media 2024
• CAA: Gold Medal – Mixed Media, Silver Medal – Mixed Media 2023
• CAA: Ray Swanson Memorial Award, Gold Medal – Mixed Media, Silver Medal – Water Solubles 2022
• CAA: Anne Marion Best of Show, Gold Medals (2) – Water Solubles & Mixed Media 2021
• CAA: Gold Medals (2) – Drawing & Mixed Media, Silver Medal – Water Solubles 2019
• CAA: Silver Medal – Other Media 2018
• CAA: Silver Medal – Water Solubles 2017
• Inducted as Member of the Will Rogers High School Hall of Fame 2017
• Academy of Western Artists: Will Rogers Award – Artist of the Year 2011
• Buffalo Bill Historical Center: Premier Platinum Award & William E. Weiss Purchase Award 2010
• Buffalo Bill Historical Center: Artists’ Choice Award 2009
Selected Press
Cowboys & Indians – American Art Collector – Western Art Collector – Art of the West – Southwest Art – Western Horseman – American Cowboy – The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal
Affiliations
• Cowboy Artists of America, Member since 2016
Galleries
• Broadmoor Galleries
• Insight Gallery
• Santa Fe Trails Fine Art
• Settlers West Galleries
