Donne Bitner graduated with honors from Penn State University with a degree in Art and has been a full-time studio artist for the last 15 years.
She is currently an instructor at Crealde School of Art in watercolor, monotypes, and experimental acrylics and maintains a studio at McRae Art Studio in Winter Park, Florida.
Her work is exhibited in museum shows and art festivals throughout the United States and has appeared in a variety of publications including American Artist Watercolor Magazine, International Artist, and Watercolor Magic.
Donne’s artwork can be found in the collections of the Huntsville Museum of Art, Springfield Art Museum, Gulf Coast Center for the Arts, Vero Beach Center for the Arts, Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences, Maitland Museum of Art, Rollins College, State of Florida Capital Collection, Holmes Medical Center, Cape Canaveral Hospital, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, and the cities of Atlanta, Orlando, and Melbourne.
She is a signature member of both the National Watercolor Society and Florida Watercolor Society, a member of the Watercolor USA Honor Society, and a recipient of a Florida Individual Artist’s Fellowship in 2002.
Artist’s Statement
“My new body of work incorporates monotypes, oil pastel, oil stick, charcoal, and acrylic paint. Although subject matter will vary, my intent is to follow the mark - to layer and strip away and find the hidden texture and meaning of a piece. It’s painting by discovery.”
Donne won Best of Show for the 2006 Winter Park Autumn Art Festival. Morris Mitchell, from the Ringling Museum of Art who was a judge at the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival quoted, “Talent and creativity are not the same. You can teach someone to draw but not to be creative. Creativity is when the magic happens.”
Donne recently won Best of Show for the 2006 Mount Dora Arts Festival. The judges comment that, “Donne Bitner’s work is complex. The images are layered with textures that mest to give her works a unique voice which makes its own statement. This subtle quality is reflected not only in the chosen work but also in all the works in her booth. Her visual strength is beautifully connected to the best of contemporary art.”
