Donna Coleman received her BFA, Honors, in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her MFA in painting from CUNY Brooklyn College, New York. Her paintings have been exhibited extensively in Washington DC, her hometown, and in northeastern Ohio, her home since 2000. Donna Coleman received her BFA, Honors, in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her MFA in painting from CUNY Brooklyn College, New York. Her paintings have been exhibited extensively in Washington DC, her hometown, and in northeastern Ohio, her home since 2000.

​She has received three grants from the Ohio Arts Council, four grants from the DC Commissionon the Arts, as well as grants from the Ellen Johnson Visiting Artist Fund of Oberlin College, Art Matters, Inc., and the George Sugarman Foundation. Before moving to Ohio, she was the Director of the Dreamcatcher Arts Summer Camp and Middle School Art Teacher at Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC. She has taught art to young children for many years, and continues to do so at Firelands Association of the Visual Arts in Oberlin. She also teaches painting to adults and teens at FAVA​and drawing to adult students of all ages at Lorain County Community College. She and her husband live with ​their daughter in Oberlin, Ohio.