donna banning
artist
Once a “prairie girl”, always a “prairie girl”. The wide open spaces still give me a thrill when I travel there. I was born in Belle Fourche, SD and grew up on a sheep ranch in Harding County, SD. My grandparents both “Homesteaded” there in 1908 and my parents lived on the Walker Ranch after they married. It was a great place to grow up, with unending space to play in, one-room schools to attend, lots of nearby cousins, animals to care for and learn about, wildlife and nature to appreciate.
My brother and I learned to entertain ourselves and being innovative and creative was a necessity. We survived the stock market crash fallout, “dry years” in the mid-thirties, snow-bound winters, WWII and leaving home to attend High School. After that my life changed with marriage, the Air Force, the birth of Bruce, Connie, Bernie and Callie, moving for jobs, college, teaching high school and community college visual arts for thirty-four years, retiring and beginning a new career at the University level for fourteen years, retiring again, welcoming six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Being a creative artist was always a part of my life from childhood on.