Dona Simons created her first oil painting when she was six years old. She held her first solo exhibition on Newbury Street in Boston before studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Dona Simons‘ work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the U. S., Europe and the Caribbean, and is represented in public and private collections. Simons is included in various catalogs, documentaries and publications. She has received grants from national and local arts foundations. Past artist residencies have taken her to California, New Mexico and a castle in France.

Undersea landscapes are a great love that is reflected in her work. The world underwater has enchanted her since she first went snorkeling in the Caribbean as a child and later, as an adult, when she lived there for six years.

Simons also has a passion for Louisiana music. Before Hurricane Katrina, she created a painting series “Louisiana Music Below Sea Level” presenting contemporary Louisiana musicians in undersea settings. The underwater environment became her own visual metaphor for New Orleans – before Katrina. This series induced an art critic for French newspaper “Nice Matin” to call her work “without doubt visionary.” Many of these same paintings were transformed by flood waters after Katrina. Besides the prescient aspects of the work, the stains, tears and waterlines on the canvas added a dimension of historical significance. She has published a catalog of the works before and after.

The inspiration Simons continues to receive from contemporary South Louisiana music and musicians keeps her in New Orleans.