Donna "Dancing Star" Courtney

Donna “Dancing Star” Courtney, a self-taught artist and Chickasaw storyteller, has cultivated a lifelong passion for the arts. Her diverse mediums have been acquired through self-study, trial and error, and experimentation. While gourds remain her primary focus, she also creates digital, woven, wire-wrapped, painted, and mixed-media pieces.

A native of Oregon, Donna relocated to Oklahoma in 2016 to strengthen her connection to her First American heritage and tribe. Her signature, “Dancing Star,” is a Chickasaw name bestowed upon her by her late father. Her grandfather, Willie Courtney, was an original Chickasaw enrollee. Currently, she serves as a Storytelling Program Manager for the Chickasaw Nation.

Donna conducts research on traditional Southeastern tribal designs and incorporates ancient motifs into her work. She employs a harmonious utilization of geometry into her creative process. Elevating gourds to a fine art, donna applies acrylic, watercolor, stains, wood burning, carving, wire, glass beads, leather, and lighting. Her creations draw deeply from her Chickasaw culture and the natural world.

Donna’s profound curiosity about life, learning, and artistic development has been recognized through numerous awards in juried exhibits across Oklahoma and other states. 

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