Mikel Donahue, a native Oklahoman, was born in Tulsa in 1956. The grandson of a rancher and great grandson of an Oklahoma Pioneer of the Cherokee Strip Run of 1893. He has lived and worked in the Tulsa area all of his life. Mikel and his wife Christie, raise quarter horses on their place in Broken Arrow. He has worked in the advertising/marketing industry as an Art Director for over 29 years, since graduating form the University of Tulsa. He began to draw and paint seriously about six years ago. Mikel's style depicts an honesty about his art that is true to the people and places that he portrays. His friendships with working cowboys and involvement in the horse industry gives him inspiration and a unique perspective to his art. He works in colored pencil, watercolor, acrylic and oils.
Mikel does commissions and has donated works to benefit the fund raising efforts of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Scholarship Foundation, the AQHA Research Fund, Bit by Bit Therapeutic Riding Center and the Alzheimer's Association of Eastern Oklahoma, as well as numerous non-profit organizations throughout Oklahoma.
Mikel has work in many private collections as well as several galleries in Oklahoma. In 2006 Mikel participated in shows at Ruidoso, New Mexico, and the World Championship Ranch Rodeo Art Show in Amarillo, Texas, receiving "Best of Show". In 2007 Mikel was invited to show at the Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library 29th Annual Invitational Art Show in Midland, Texas, the special exhibition titled "Braided Paths" at the 2007 Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts, the Collector's Classic Show at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas, the World Championship Ranch Rodeo Art Show in Amarillo and at Ruidoso, New Mexico. In 2008 he has been invited to show his work at the 2008 Roundup Show at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, the Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library 30th Annual Invitational Show in Midland, Texas, the Horse in Art at the AQHA Museum in Amarillo, The Collector's Classic Show at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas, the 2008 Ranch Rodeo Western Art Show in Amarillo, Texas, and the Mountain Oyster Club 39th Annual Contemporary Western Art Show in Tucson, Arizona. Mikel's art will be shown at many shows in 2009.
He has been featured in American Cowboy and Western Horseman magazines. Most recently the cover artist on the January 2008 issue of America's Horse, an AQHA publication, and the cover artist on the July 2008 issue of American Quarter Horse Racing Journal.
