Michele Oka Doner (born 1945) Miami Beach, Florida. Resides in New York City, New York.

Michele Oka Doner is an internationally acclaimed artist whose prolific career spans four decades.  Oka Doner’s work is fueled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world, from which she derives her formal vocabulary.  Her artwork has been acquired by major museums and private collections in the United States and Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at the Louvre; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Cooper-Huewitt, national Design Museum, New York; the FIU-Wolfsonian in Miami Beach and many others.  Oka Doner is renowned for her numerous public art installations, including a “A Walk on the Beach,” at the Miami International Airport (1995-2009), nearly a mile long concourse of dark terrazzo inlaid with bronze and mother of pearl, with additional concourses in process. Other installations include Radiat Site at Herald Square subway station in New York City, Flight at the Ronald Reagan International Airport in Arlington, Virginia; three United States courthouses: in Greeneville, Tennessee, Gulfport, Mississippi, and Laredo, Texas; the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; as well as public libraries in Sacramento, California and Evanston, Illinois.

Oka Doner has simultaneously sustained a decades long exploration of the human figure.  She has been featured and reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, La Repubblica, Art News, ARTFORUM and Numerous other publications.  Among the many books and catalogs about Oka Doner’s work are: Natural Seduction, published by Hudson Hills Press (2003), which examines the broad scope of her work; Workbook, published by Oka Press (2004), featuring blueprints of cast bronzes for her public art projects, and now Human Nature, focusing on her figurative work, Edizioni Charta, Fall, 2008.  

• HumanNature, Marlborough Gallery (Chelsea), New York, New York (catalog)

• Four Decades, Four Media, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York

• Michele Oka Doner: New Sculpture, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York (catalog)
• Fleeting Moments, MIA Gallery, Miami, Florida (catalog)
• Polarities, Lobby Gallery, The Wall Street Journal Building, New York, New York
• The Palm Collection, Christofle, Paris, France, 2001 ELP Studio, Rome, Italy

• Paper/Papers, Willoughby Sharp Gallery, New York, New York
• A Fuoco, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, Italy

• Ceremonial Silver, Primavera Gallery, New York, New York (catalog)

• Feigenson/Preston Gallery, Detroit, Michigan
• Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, Florida

• Art et Industrie, New York, New York (catalog)
• The Pewabic Society, Detroit, Michigan
• Alice Simsar Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Retrospective, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan (catalog)

• Art et Industrie, New York, New York
• Furniture of the Twentieth Century, New York, New York

• Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, Florida

• Diane Brown Gallery, New York, New York
• Forecast Gallery, Peekskill, New York

• Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York, New York

• Works in Progress: Michele Oka Doner, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan (catalog)

• Gallery Seven, Detroit, Michigan

• Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, Michigan

• Forsythe Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Gallery (Chelsea), New York, New York

• The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, New York (book/catalog
• What We Keep: An Exhibition on Books and Memory, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, Idaho )

• Feeding Desire, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York (catalog.)
• Hot Pics, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York

• Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists, Marlborough New York

• Art and Transit, NYIT School of Architecture and Design, Old Westbury, New York
• Mining the Archives – Cultivating Public Space, Center for Jewish History, New York
• The Flag Project, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, New York

• National Design Triennial: Inside Design Now, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design
• Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York (catalog)
• Immortal Clay, Garth Clark Gallery, Long Island City, New York
• Goddess: The Classical Mode, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
• Turning Pages, Center Gallery, Wolfson Campus, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL (catalog, traveling exhibition)
• The Art of Collage / Assemblage, Liman Studio Gallery, Palm Beach, FL

• Group Exhibition, Marlborough Gallery, New York, New York

• Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference, Bard
• Graduate Center, New York, New York (catalog, traveling exhibition)
• Firing Cycle: 50 Years of Clay at the Potters Guild, Slusser Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Double Debut, Willoughby Sharp Gallery, New York, New York
• Anableps, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, Italy (catalog)

• Heroines and Heroes, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, New York
• New Editions Outdoors, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey
• Dysfunctional Sculpture, Center For Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan

• Collaboration: Celebrating 25 Years of Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami-Dade Cultural Center, Miami, Florida (brochure)
• Acts of Faith, Abraham Lubelski Gallery, New York, New York
• Born of Clay, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, New York

• Illuminations, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida
• Figure and Fragility, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, Inc., New York, New York
• Form/Function or Metaphor, Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Rochester, Michigan

• Bare Witness: Clothing and Nudity, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

• Body Language, National Design Museum, New York, New York
• Art and Architecture = Miami, Center of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida
• Back From Vacation, Art et Industrie, New York, New York

• Debut, Selections from the Permanent Collection, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Kansas City, Missouri (catalog)
• Mirrors, The Second Parrish Art Museum Biennial, Southampton, New York (catalog)
• Art + Architecture: Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Palle, Galleria Stefania Miscetti, Rome, Italy
• Linen, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, New York
• Industrial Elegance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York (catalog)
• Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey
• Sixties Ceramics from the Permanent Collection, American Craft Museum, New York, New York
• Transcending Boundaries: An Aesthetic Exploration of Materials, Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York, New York
• Two Decades of Public Art 1973-1993, Miami Dade Public Library, Main Branch, Miami, Florida
• Essentials, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, New York
• Formed by Fire, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (catalog)
• Art/Functional Art, Turbulence Gallery, New York, New York (catalog)
• Dolls in Art: A Metaphor for Personal Identity, Haggerty Museum, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (catalog)

• Architecture and Art, International Contemporary Art Fair, Yokohama, Japan (catalog)
• Reperti, National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (catalog)
• Design Resource, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York (catalog)
• The Endowed Chair, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, New York (catalog)
• Industrial Elegance, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, California (catalog, traveling exhibition)
• Benchmarks, Katonah Museum, Katonah, New York (catalog)
• Ceramic Sculpture: Figure and Form, The Society of Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (catalog)

• New Acquisitions, 20th Century American, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• Weathervanes, The First Parrish Art Museum Biennial, Southampton, New York (catalog)
  
• Recent Acquisitions, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York
• Magnets, Loren & Pere, New York, New York (catalog)

• Project Rembrandt, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, New York
• The Human Icon, Baylor Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia (catalog)

• Ceramic Traditions: The Figure, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, California
• A Different War, Whatcom Museum of Natural History and Art, Belingham, Washington (catalog)

• Counterparts: Tables and Still Lifes, Alice Simsar Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Interaction: Science and Art, The Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey
• Art in Architecture, AIA National Convention, IDCNY, Long Island City, New York (catalog)
• In Bloom, BMW Gallery, New York, New York

• The Eloquent Object, The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma (catalog)
• Small Scale Sculpture, Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• Inaugural Exhibition, Art et Industrie, New York, New York

• Proposals for Ocean Park, Sculpture Finalists, Santa Monica, California
• Art Aid, Sotheby’s Exhibit and Auction, New York, New York
• Artists Interpret Utility, Detroit Artists’ Market, Detroit, Michigan (catalog)

• Artist’s Furniture, Lyric Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland
• Artist’s Toys, Vanderwoude-Tananbaum, New York, New York
• Sculpture in Architecture, Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York, New York
• Soul Catchers, Stellweg/Seguy Gallery, New York, New York

• Artist’s Toys, Vanderwoude-Tananbaum, New York, New York
• The Red Studio, New York, New York
• Disarming Images, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio (catalog)
• Forms That Function, Katonah Museum, Katonah, New York
• Affirmation of Life, Kenkeleba House, New York, New York

• Artist’s Call, Judson Church, New York, New York
• Patrick Lannon Collection, Lake Worth Museum, Lake Worth, Florida
• Ritual, Myth, Symbol, Detroit Artists’ Market, Detroit, Michigan
• Sculpturesites, Amagansett, New York (catalog)

• Detroit Collects Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

• The Mask as Metaphor, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California
• Instruction Drawings: The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection, Cranbrook
• Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (catalog)

• Image and Object in Contemporary Sculpture, P.S.1:
• Institute of Art and Urban Resources, Long Island City, New York (catalog, traveling exhibition)

• The Unpainted Portrait, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (catalog)

• Michigan Collects Art, Pontiac Creative Arts Center, Pontiac, Michigan (catalog)

• Objects: USA, The Johnson Collection, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, New York (catalog)

• Dolls and Other Effigies, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

• Michigan Focus, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan (catalog)
• Fantastic Reality, Richard Nash Gallery, Seattle, Washington

• The Plastic Earth, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

• Form, Space, Energy, Meadowbrook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan

• All Michigan, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan (catalog)

• 58th Exhibition for Michigan Artists, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

• Objects: USA, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute,
• Washington, D.C. (catalog, traveling exhibition)
• Selected Images, Detroit Artists’ Market, Detroit, Michigan

• Miami Intermodel Center, Earlington Heights Connector Metrorail Station, Miami, Florida

• Healing Plants, UMDNJ University Hospital Cancer Center, Newark New Jersey.
• L.A. Lace: Pollination, Metropolis Development, Downtown Los Angeles, California
• Walking Map, Terminal 18, Port Everglades, Broward County, Florida
• Waterfall Chandeliers, Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, New York

• Beneath the Leafy Crown, Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan

• Oasis, Temple Beth Am, Coral Gables, Florida

• Epiphytes: Absorbing from Nature, Lobby Floor, Crosley Campus Center, University of South Florida, Sarasota, Florida

• Protoplants, Ocean County Library, Toms River, New Jersey
• Queen Bee, Joyce Boutique, Hong Kong
• 2004 Life Forms, Genetics and Biomaterials Life Sciences Building, Rutgers,
  The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
• Dynamo Café, Wolfsonian FIU, Miami, Florida

• Wave and Gate, Dan M. Russell Jr. United States Courthouse, Gulfport, Mississippi
• River of Quintessence, United States Courthouse, Laredo, Texas

• Poplar and Iris: Garden of Justice, United States Courthouse, Greenville, Tennessee

• Biblical Species, Center For Jewish History, New York, New York
• Jazz Club and Crow’s Nest, Eagle I, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Oslo-Miami
• Goober, Bazzini Nut Company, New York, New York
• Ebb and Flow, Newark Penn Station, Newark, New Jersey

• A Dialogue of Rings, Athenaeum, Florida International University, Miami, Florida
• Phase II, Concourse A, Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida

• Medallion: Flight, Washington National Airport, Arlington, Virginia

• Positron, Arthur Rich Memorial, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• A Walk on the Beach, Concourse A, Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida
• Monumental Hearth, Hillcrest Community Center, Kansas City, Missouri
• Lexicon: Justice, Criminal Justice Center, Main Lobby Floor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Geologic Time, Dane County Expo Center, Madison, Wisconsin

• City of Trees, Evanston Public Library, Main Lobby Floor, Evanston, Illinois
• Fallen Leaves, Feldpausch, Zurich, Switzerland

• Two Obelisks, Accreted Coral and Steel, City of Santa Monica, California
• Winged Figure, Distance Markers for Bayshore Blvd., Tampa, Florida

• Codex Sacramento, Sacramento Central Library Galleria, Sacramento, California

• Radiant Site, Herald Square Subway Complex, New York, New York
• Science Benches, Ingalls Mall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Radiant Sidewalk, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, New York, New York
• Venice Accretion Project, Venice, Italy (completion 1991)

• Bronze Memorial, Woodstock Artist’s Cemetery, Woodstock, New York

• Celestial Plaza, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York

• Two Garden Seats, Bouverie Audubon Preserve, Glen Ellen, California

• Fallen Leaf, Franklin Historic Cemetery, Franklin, Michigan

• Stars of Design Award, New York

• Legends Award, Pratt Institute, New York

• Award of Excellence, for 2004, United Nations Society of Writers & Artists “Zeitgeist Award,” Design Triennial,
• Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum/New York Times.

• Honor Award, National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association for Miami International Airport, Concourse A, Miami, Florida

• Distinguished Alumnus Award, School of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,Michigan

• The Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation Grant, “Celestial Plaza,” New York, New York

• Alumna-In-Residence, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• The L.J. Skaggs and Mary Skaggs Foundation Grant, Venice Accretion Project Kress Foundation Grant, Venice Accretion Project
• Certificate of Excellence, AIA “Art in Architecture” National Convention, New York for Celestial Plaza, New York, New York
• Concrete Industry Board Award for Celestial Plaza, New York, New York

• New York State Council for the Arts, Mid-Career Grant, for Celestial Plaza, New York, New York
• Visiting Artist, American Academy, Rome, Italy
• Helena Rubenstein Foundation, Grant, Celestial Plaza, New York, New York
• The Reed Foundation, Grant, Celestial Plaza, New York, New York

• The Samuel Rubin Foundation, Grant for Research, Celestial Plaza, Hayden Planetarium, New York, New York

• Michigan Potter’s Association Prize, 21st Exhibition for Michigan Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan

• Standard Ceramic Company Award, Invitational Exhibition, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan

• The Malbin Prize, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
• Second Biennial Michigan Craftsmen Council Award, Bloomfield Art Association,Michigan