About Donna Estabrooks
My art is focused on the human condition, such as courage or hope, love, unity, relationships. It’s an expression of whatever I might happen to be dealing with in my life. After I create a piece, I look into it for some time, and then I see something that I might never have seen before. It’s more of a discovery process, and it’s really thrilling to me.
I pray every day to accomplish my mission as an artist dedicated to world peace by producing art that touches people’s lives. This means to me that no matter what happens in my life, I won’t be swayed in my faith or in my creative life. I’ll continue doing my art.
One of my favorite quotes from Nichiren Daishonin is from “The Eight Winds”: “A truly wise man will not be carried away by any of the eight winds: prosperity, decline, disgrace, honor, praise, censure, suffering and pleasure. He is neither elated by prosperity nor grieved by decline.”
After I graduated with a B.F.A in painting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1982, I taught there for nine years as an artist-in-residence. Although technically I work with acrylics and oil pastels, I feel any other aspect of my work is really about my spirituality and my Buddhist practice. Technique seems unimportant — it’s really more about listening. Listening and also letting go.
Donna Estabrooks in the News
Artist Profile ...
Donna Estabrooks Profile Sheet ...
"My art is focused on the human condition, such as courage or hope, love, unity, relationships. It's an expression of whatever I might happen to be dealing with in my life. After I create a piece, I look into it for some time, and then I see something that I might never have seen before. It's more of a discovery process, and it's really thrilling to me.
"I pray every day to accomplish my ... <PDF: READ MORE>
Local News Coverage ...
Montague Artist Creates Painted Prayers
"Artist Donna Estabrooks’ path is illuminated by the light of her faith in the Lotus Sutra. A follower of the Nichiren Daishonin sect of Buddhism. since 1987, Estabrooks calls her colorful paintings “painted prayers.” She is able to intuitively find archetypical forms in her paintings that have an immediate and compelling appeal; it often happens that an Estabrooks painting is a buyer’s first purchase of fine art. Some artists seek only the connoisseur: Estabrooks positions her larger canvases in gallery windows where motorists can see them, and has even sold one of these to a man who called her on his car phone after driving by and falling in love with a painting ...
Cracker Barrel News, Western Massachusetts ...
"The class was to help us find a place to creatively emerge within ourselves, to free up our anxieties around the idea of making art, and experience new ways to do it.
Our teacher was Donna Estabrooks, known for her whimsical mixed-media paintings. Donna is a master at spontaneously creating prolific bodies of work, drawing from how she feels at any given moment. She led us on a creative journey that was fast, furious, fabulous and fun ... <PDF: READ MORE>
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