Program: Studio Tour

Donna Hill-Wiley was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA with a BA in English literature and a Minor in Art. She has a graduate degree in English and American Literature from Texas Southern University in Houston and taught freshman, sophomore, and business English at Houston Community College (HCC) for many years.  She abandoned nearly all of it for a career in graphic and web design during the 90’s. She has been pursuing metals as an artistic passion since the early 90’s.

She began metalsmithing because she couldn’t afford to buy the things she desired on a student’s income. As a result, her work takes many different paths from jewelry to be worn in the form of beadwork combined with metals, PMC, and jewelry mixed with natural stones and geodes. Her work has also begun to include jewelry pieces - called story necklaces - and wall pieces with social/political themes that follow the simple communication aesthetics found in graphic design.

She was and continues to be a student in the metalsmithing department at HCC.