Donald Corpier Starr, a native of Wichita, Kansas. He is currently living in Pahrump, Nevada. Donald is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is a Cherokee Nation Artist. He earned an Associate Degree in 1970 from Coffeyville College in Kansas and later attended and studied art at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Donald enlisted in the U.S. Air Force from 1971 to 1979. He was a Air Force Graphic Specialist from (1975-1979). Received a degree in Occupational Education from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 1983. Received an MFA (Illustration) from Syracuse University in 1990. Worked as a production artist in Seattle in the late seventies, and later worked as an Civil Service Graphic Specialist and Visual Information Specialist with the Department of Navy and a Video Production Officer/Visual information Specialist with the Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration. Later became Director of the Written Materials Department, National Mine Health and Safety Academy, Beckley, West Virginia. He retired from Civil Service in 2012. He has be drawing since the early age of 5. He gives credit to his mother and his second grade teacher, for encouraging him to become an artist. He has exhibited art in local, regional, national and international art competitions and exhibits. Donald has exhibited his work in galleries thru out the Las Vegas area. One of his paintings (“Cherokee Freedmen”) is on display in the “We are Cherokee: Cherokee Freedmen and the Right to Citizenship” traveling exhibit. Since 2022 has shown his art in several Cherokee Nation Shows.
Public works projects:
Banner Art Project, City of Kokomo Indiana, Banner creation titled: “Learning Our History”, completed December 2020.
2025 Produced art for a Trail of Tears historical panel for the Steelville Missouri Trail of Tears Remembrance Project, depicting Cherokee Freedmen on the Trail.
2026, Commissioned by the Center for Historic Preservation, Middle Tennessee State University to produce art for the Land between the Lakes Kentucky/Tennessee, Trail of Tears Water Route Exhibit that will be presented to the public sometime in 2027.
Awards:
1972 Special Achievement Award, USAF
1982 Citation for Outstanding Achievement in the area of Productivity, Naval Air Rework Facility, Jacksonville, FL
1996 Register Herald Juried Show, Merit Award Winner, Beckley, West Virginia
1996 Secretary’s Performance Award, U.S. Dept. of Labor
1996 Innovations in American Government Award, Group Accomplishment: Development of Program to Reduce Surface Haulage Accidents, Mine Safety and Health Administration, National Mine Health and Safety Academy, Beaver, WV
1997 Appreciation Certificate, United Way of Southern West Virginia, Beckley, WV
1997 Y103 Radio, Afro-American Good Citizen Award, Beckley, WV
1997 Beckley Area Federal Association, Federal Employee of the Year Nominee, Beckley, WV
1997 People’s Choice Award, Register Herald Juried Show, Beckley, West Virginia
2000 Special Act of Service Award, Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration
2006 Merit Award, Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association, National Meeting, San Antonio, TX
2017 Nevada Arts Council Honorable Mention Artist Fellowship Grant Award
2018 PopArt Street Gallery Artist Las Vegas, Nevada
2022 received an 2nd Place Emerging Cherokee Artist Award, Cherokee Homecoming Art Show
Art Exhibits, Festivals, Shows and Competitions:
City of Albuquerque, Recreation Department Exhibit, Albuquerque International Airport, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1970
Art in the Park Exhibit, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1970
1st Annual Spokane Arts Festival, Spokane, Washington 1974
Mushroom Gallery Exhibit, Spokane, Washington 1977
Annual Art Competition, Riverside Art Museum, Spokane, Washington 1977
Ponca City Fine Arts Festival, Ponca City, Oklahoma 1978
Junction City Arts Council Art in the Park, Junction City, Kansas 1978
Arkansas City Arts Festival, Arkansas City, Kansas 1978
Art and Book Fair, Wichita, Kansas 1978
Hillsboro Art Festival, Hillsboro, Kansas 1978
Dodge City Kansas Art Festival, Dodge City, Kansas 1978
McPherson Arts Festival, McPherson, Kansas 1978
Sheppard Mall Art Festival, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1978
Independence Arts Festival, Independence, Missouri 1978
One Man Exhibit, Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas 1979
Bach Festival Exhibit, 1980, Jacksonville, Florida 1981
“Blacks on Black”, Group Art Exhibit, Kent Campus Gallery, Florida Jr. College, Jacksonville, Florida 1981
International Art Competition, Selected Exhibitor of Drawing, Los Angeles, California, July 1984 – October 1984
National Exhibit, Gallery Triangle, Washington, D.C. February 1985
Art Mania Exhibit, Jacksonville, Florida 1992
Register-Herald Juried Show, Beckley, West Virginia October 1996
“Images Portrayed” drawings by Donald Starr, Museum Galley, Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg, West Virginia,
September 5 – October 23, 2008.
“Encounters”, drawings by Donald Corpier Starr, West Las Vegas Art Center Community Gallery, Las Vegas, NV,
December 17, 2016 – January 3, 2017.
Group Show, “Black and White-drawings, Prints and Photos, Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery, Las Vegas Arts District,
Las Vegas, NV, August 31, 2017 – October 28, 2017.
Solo Exhibition “People Tell the Story”, West Charleston Art Gallery, Las Vegas, NV, March-June 2018
Nevada Arts Council, Solo Exhibit: “Color The Emotion” by Artist Donald Corpier Starr, OXS Gallery, Sept-November 2018
Soulful: A National Exhibit of African American Artist, d”Art Center, Norfolk, VA February 7- February 28, 2019
“The Impact” Exhibit, Clark County Public Arts Office, Rotunda Gallery, February 8, 2020
The African American Experience; Moments in Time Exhibit, Anthem Center Ballroom, Henderson, NV February 2020
“Stars of the Gallery II” Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery, Arts District, Las Vegas, Nevada June – August 2020
“A Political Romp Exhibit”, Priscilla Fowler Fine Art Gallery, Arts District, Las Vegas, NV, October 2020
Kokomo, Indiana Public Art Banner Project, October 2020
“Heart Soul” Art Exhibit, City Hall Gallery, Henderson, NV February 2021
“Still Here, A Native American Heritage Exhibition” Mayors Gallery, Historic Fifth Street School, Las Vegas, NV,
November 11 – January 22, 2022
27th Cherokee Homecoming Art Show, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, August – September 2022
29th Cherokee Homecoming Art Show, Cherokee Springs Plaza, Tahequah, Oklahoma August – September 2024
“Finding My Heritage”, Cherokee Freedmen, A Visual Account, West Las Vegas Art Center, Las Vegas, NV
December 21 – February 28, 2025
Medium: Graphic Arts, Painting
I work in the drawing mediums of pen/ink, pencil, color pencil, pastels. In 2014, I started working in oil and acrylic paints. I want to bring a different visual perspective as a Freedmen Descendant artist. I am sure my Freedmen ancestors practiced the same arts as the Cherokee such as working in stone and wood, basket weaving and bead work, creating earthen dyes for design on cloth, etc. I want to tell the story of Cherokee Freedmen through my drawing and painting mediums. As I see images of the Cherokee Nation I see few images of Cherokee people that look like me. Since becoming a member in 2017, I have been researching Cherokee Freedmen history. I believe there is a lot to tell ! I think the Nation needs to see Freedmen as part of Cherokee history, our history as enslaved people of the Cherokee nation, it is our history of the past as tribal members. History can be negative and positive, its main goal is learning and awareness. Cherokee Freedmen lived in Cherokee communities performing various tasks that was required by their Cherokee masters, working in the fields growing crops, building dwellings, cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, hunting, fishing, and acting as interpreters. We learned and practiced the same crafts of Cherokee artisans. In some case scenarios, we were not just culturally connected we were blood relatives. Even in the great forced movement of the tribe we were there. I want to show we are Cherokee and how blended we are through my art !
