Artist Biographies
Donna Howell-Sickles Biography

Donna Howell-Sickles Biography

Born in 1949 in Gainesville, Texas and raised on a 900-acre farming and ranching operation in Sivells Bend, she has always been close to nature and the land around her. In 1972 she earned her BFA at Texas Tech in Lubbock and embarked on a career in western art.

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. Howell-Sickles 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. Howell-Sickles’ work is a part of the art collections of 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 and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

In 2011 she 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 CM Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana.

Donna Howell-Sickles' work has been in numerous exhibitions, both solo and group, and featured in multiple publications over the span of her forty-year career. Presently, Donna has been chosen as the singular artist to create the 2019 artwork that will be featured in 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 this year’s poster will be the first that prominently showcases all the glory a Cowgirl brings with her.

Available Works

Donna Howell-Sickles - Into the Night

Donna Howell-Sickles - Clean Getaway

Donna Howell-Sickles - The Yellow Gate

Donna Howell-Sickles - Shall I Tell You My Story

Donna Howell-Sickles - The Snubbing Post

Donna Howell-Sickles - It's an Adventure

Donna Howell-Sickles - Witness to Her Flight

Donna Howell-Sickles - Totem

View available pieces

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Education

B.F.A. 1973 Fine Art Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

Museum Collections

Booth Museum of Western Art, Cartersville,

Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, WY

CM Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT

Eitlejorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK

National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, Fort Worth, TX

National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY

Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, St Petersburg, FL

The Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, TX

The Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

Scottsdale’s Museum of the West, Scottsdale, AZ

Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO

Whitney Center for the Arts – Sheridan College, Sheridan WY

Selected Exhibitions

The Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, GA:

For the Love of Art Gala Artist, February 2017, 2025

Taking the Reins! The Art of Donna Howell-Sickles, January 2015

The 11th Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering Featured Artist, March 2007

The Other Side of the West: Recreating New Icons of the West, April 2004

Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, WY:

Buffalo Bill Art Show, Sept. 1992-2025

Wiess Purchase Award, 1993

Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX:

Night of Artists, March 2020 - 2025

Into the New West: Contemporary Art from the Booth, May-December 2019

210 West Gallery Lecture, August 2019

CM Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT

CM Russell Auction, March 1997- 2025

Guest Speaker, C M Russell Show, March 2004

Guest Artist Retrospective, March 1998

Guest Artist Show, March 1997

The Spirited Line, Four Artist Show, Sept 1995

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK

Small Works; Small Wonders, November 2009 – 2025

The Madonna’s of the Prairie: Depictions of Women in the American West, May 2015

Prix de West, June 1997

Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ

Cowgirl Up; Art from the Other Half of the West, April 2006-2023

Eiteljorge Museum, Indianapolis, IN

Quest for the West, September 2018-2025

Quest for the West Purchase Award, 2023

Museum of Art of the American West, Houston, TX

Four Faces West, July 1991

National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, Fort Worth, TX

Donna Howell-Sickles Exhibition: The Trail of the Cowgirl, March 2019

Donna Howell-Sickles Retrospective: The Timeless Image of the Cowgirl; Feb 2005

Cowgirl Spring Roundup, Montana, May 2015, April 202, September 2024

The Heart of the West;, 2004-2010

National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY

Guest Artist, Western Visions, 2008

Western Visions, Sept 1996-2024

Invitational Show-Wildlife Miniature Show, Sept 2001

American Women Artists: A New Legacy, Guest Speaker, March 1996

The National Center for American Western Art, San Antonio, TX

The Night of Artists, Featured Artists, Jan 2003-2013

Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY

Rubbed, Smeared, Erased…the Facets of Drawing, Oct 1997

Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library, Midland, TX

Haley Library Show, Painters who Sculpt, April 2015

Phippen Museum, Prescott, AZ

Annual Miniature Masterpiece Art Show and Sale 2000 -2020

Wild Horses: Equine Art At Home On the Range, Jul-Nov 2008

Other Side of the West: The Homecoming; Oct. 2005

Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO

The New West: The Rise of Contemporary and Indigenous Western Art, December 2024

Looking West Group Show, May 2019

Imagining the West, December 2017

SAM Exhibit, December 2016

Donna Howell-Sickles Retrospective, 2014

Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

Divergence of Legacy: Art of the American West in the 21st Century (February 22- June 22, 2025

American Women in the West Group Show, February 1993 - 1997

University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, WY

Realism in the Contemporary Art of the American West, Oct 1998

Publications

Western Art & Architecture, Cowgirl Dreams, October 2020, Corrine Gaffner Garcia

Cowboys & Indians, Touring the Booth, July 2020, Dana Joseph

Texas Women and Ranching 2019, Texas A&M University Press, Cover Art.

Horses in the American West: Portrayals by Twenty-Four Artists 2018, Heidi Brady and Scott White

Western Art of the Twenty-First Century 2018,. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, E. Ashley Rooney forward by Seth Hopkins

Southwest Art Magazine: Donna Howell-Sickles Roping the Stars, July 2016, Gussie Fauntieroy

Art of the West, The Joy of Being Alive, January 2015, Vicki Stavig

Western Art & Architecture, In the Studio: Blazing a New Trail July 2013, Shari Morrison

Southwest Artr Magazine, 40 Prominent People, April, 2011

Texas Traditions: Contemporary Artists of the Lone Star State 2010, Michael Duty & Susan Hallsten McGarry

Western Horseman Magazine: New Step for Howell-Sickles, July 2010; Jennifer Denison

Art of the West Magazine: 2008 Guidebook of Art, 2006 Anniversary Issue; Vicki Stavig

Cowboys and Indians Magazine: A Cowgirl On the Rise, Dec 2007; William C. Reynolds

Western Horseman Magazine: Splashed With Spirit, Nov 2007; Kyle Partain

Texas Highways Magazine: Cowgirl Rising In Saint Jo, May 2007; Kathryn Jones

Wildlife Art Magazine: May-June 2006 Issue; Judy Archebald

The Dallas Morning News: The Muse in the Saddle, Mar 13, 2005; Katharine Goodloe

Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists of the West 2004; Michael Duty & Suzanne Deats

Performance Horse Magazine, 2004, Prime-Time Thrill Seekers; Erin Randall

Lone Star Horse Report, July 2004; Dan Talbot

Southwest Art, May 2004, My World; Wolf Schneider

Art of the West, Nov-Dec 2002, The Studio; Nancy Gillespie

Frisco Style, Fall 2000, Blazing Trails; Lori Fairchild

America’s Horse, Nov-Dec 1999, Cowgirl Magic, Lesli Groves

Leading the West: 100 Contemporary Western Artists, 1998, Northlight Publishing Dan Hagerty

Cowgirl Rising: The Art of Donna Howell-Sickles, 1997 the Greenwich Workshop Press; Peg Streep

The Equine Image, Jun-July 1997, Classic Cowgirls; Ann Terry Hill

American Cowboy, 1994, Donna Howell-Sickles Sends Real Cowgirl Greetings; Shari R. Carman

The Santa Fean , June 1993, Donna Howell-Sickles, Artist; Jann Wolcott

Southwest Art, May 1991, Donna Howell-Sickles, Annie Osburn