About the Artist: Kim Doner
Not Very Official Biography of Soon-to-be-World-Famous Author/Illustrator Kim Doner
Kim Doner was left by Gypsies on the front porch of Betty and Otto Doner on July 21, 1955. As a small child, she planned to grow up and be a Ballerina Veterinarian Artist. Kim would save animal lives by day, dance on stage at night, and vacation in Africa each summer to wear leopard skins, face paints, and fancy beads (she had gaudy tastes as a small child). She would live in a treehouse like Tarzan's (and if Johnny Weissmuller didn't show up, maybe Cheetah would). There, she would draw fabulous animals and retire a World Famous Artist.
Although these ideals have not evolved in such concrete terms, she actually DOES perform on stage, rescue animals and create books. Kim is a Big Supporter of nurturing dreams, and is not shy about encouraging anyone and everyone to do the same. This belief has led her from Tulsa all the way to Kenya and back, shared in her recent book, On a Road in Africa.
But how did she get there? Oh, rats! You want the facts....ohhhhh, okay.
The Facts
Born in Tulsa, OK., and a Tulsa University graduate: B.S. in art, no less! As a medical illustrator, first jobs entailed chances to draw arrowheads, snake fangs, tumors, and embryos (not pretty). Artistic growth slowed when Kim became a Supreme Domestic Engineer (also known as "wife and mother") but things picked up between babynaps and diapers when she began painting portraits. She painted for galleries and collections, won awards, had a commissioned list, began graduate programs...and landed a contract for her first children's book. Wow! The Perfect Fit for Kim Doner! Since her first book, Kim discovered she is no longer aging. She is younging. This process occurred during early sketches, when her inner child leapt forth and started running the show; within the next few years, she will probably get to go trick-or- treating again. She already plays lots of video games...
Besides making life-sized paper dolls, decorating 7’ tall penguins for the Tulsa zoo, spending 80 hours on her knees to create faux marble floors, designing puzzles and lyrics and clip art for kids, rescuing and raising and photographing wild animal babies, firing dichroic glass art pieces, drawing storyboards and thumbnail ideas, and learning to play the djembe, one might ask what else Kim Doner does. Thank you for asking.
She imagines, researches, sketches, notes, plans, writes and rewrites and polishes and redraws then illustrates children’s books. Then, she makes school visits to talk about it.
Books Written and/or Illustrated by Kim Doner
The Buffalo in the Mall by Molly Griffis
Buffalo Dreams written and illustrated by Kim Doner
Green Snake Ceremony by Sherrin Watkins
The Philosophers' Club by Christopher Phillips
Q is for Quark by David Schwartz
Rainbows, Head Lice, and Pea-Green Tile by Brod Bagert
White Bead Ceremony by Sherrin Watkins