Pictured: Michele Oka Doner. Image courtesy of The Ringling Museum of Art.

In a time when sea levels are rapidly rising and tropical storms are becoming more destructive with each passing season, Michelle Oka Doner’s work stands out. It stands out, because that’s what Doner, an internationally acclaimed artist and Miami Beach native has always cared about: the flora and fauna of the environment around her. Doner, whose specialties include sculpting and printmaking amongst many other skills, has been creating art centered around the natural world and humanity’s relationship to it since the late 1960s. This November, Doner will be presenting her first solo exhibition at The Ringling Museum of Art with Michele Oka Doner: The True Story of Eve.

“I’ve been talking with Michele for a number of years now, she’s someone that’s really dedicated to the local flora and fauna of Florida,” says Ola Wlusek, the Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Ringling. “She’s really interested in nature and our efforts to preserve it, however, her work approaches the topic in a more poetic way through the use of sculpture, printmaking and drawing.”

While The True Story of Eve isn’t necessarily a retrospective, it will provide a broad range of Doner’s work in materials like bronze, ceramic, wood and glass from the 1960s until now. “Michele’s really interesting because she uses found materials in the majority of her work–she’ll employ anything from small leaves to sticks to sea shells to Palmetto tree fronds,” says Wlusek. “She also works in almost every medium from sculpture to bronze to silver to mixed media and even glass. Her printmaking ranges from both small scale prints to large scale pieces over six feet high.”

Doner’s artistic range allows for viewers to experience the exhibition in a multitude of ways. Not only will Doner’s work be presented on the walls, but various sculptures and pieces will be presented on the floor in the round as well. It’s a fitting exhibition for Doner at this stage of her career. For an artist who has always been inspired by Florida’s climate, her work may not be any more relevant than it is now.

The Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota.

Pictured: Michele Oka Doner. Image courtesy of The Ringling Museum of Art.

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