Artist Showcase

Participating Artists - Donna Young

Donna Lee Young is the Lead Educator for the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Education and Public Outreach Office located at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA. She develops educational materials for the Chandra mission and travels extensively presenting the materials to educators at workshops, meetings and conferences.

In the late 1960's Donna lived on the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation at Havasu Landing, California. Most of her time was spent as a desert rat - rummaging around in the Mohave Desert collecting objects that caught her fancy - such as beach pebbles, cactus wood, fossils, glass, and bits of rusty tin and metal. Donna began creating assemblages and collages from her desert treasures for friends and family, and eventually sold some of the creations at flea markets and rock shows. She continued her art hobby as she traveled back and forth across the country between Havasu Landing and Maine. Eventually children appeared and a more stable lifestyle was mandated - including a permanent job. All too soon work and children put art aside.

All of a sudden two years ago, Donna decided she wanted to do something "artistic" again - something for relaxation to balance the stress of her career. After a 35-year hiatus, she decided she would work with the same sort of materials as in the 1960's - after all, she had never stopped accumulating "interesting debris". Surprisingly, she ended up with a totally unanticipated art form - digital! Using vintage music and ephemera images and photo objects created from her photography she assembles collages which are transferred to canvases, then embellished. Two of Donna's Canadian friends, Julie Czerneda and Jean-Pierre Normand, strongly encouraged her to join the Anticipation art exhibit in Montreal. To her truly great surprise several canvases sold and she won a ribbon! Donna continues to share her art at science fiction conventions.