Donna’s family has lived in western North Carolina for generations, and many made their living from jobs provided by the textile mills that spanned the region until the 1990s. Her artistic curiosity is often guided by a desire to deeply understand her family and her place in southern Appalachian culture.  

She has been creating with fiber since she first worked in her family’s fabric store in the late 1970s. She studied clothing construction and costume history as an undergraduate. She first learned to weave on a Navajo rug loom, which fed her love and passion for making rugs. For 20 years, she was an instructional designer and business consultant. In 2020, she returned to school full-time, studying weaving and completing a certificate in professional craft fiber.

Donna is particularly interested in working with materials that have been cast off or that have no apparent worth at first glance. These materials have histories that inspire the objects she creates. She follows traditions that have perfected the use of upcycled materials, including the Japanese art of Sakiori and Scandinavian rug weaving. She is also interested in using indigo and Shibori, a Japanese manual resist-dyeing technique.

Donna lives in Micaville, NC. On warm summer days, if she’s not at the loom, you will find her with her feet in the South Toe River.