Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Donna Marchyshyn-Shymko graduated with a BSc in clothing and textiles from the University of Alberta. Her work soon expanded to paper, canvas and clay and in 1991 she was commissioned to create a lifesize sculpture of Emily Murphy for Emily Murphy Park. More recently Marchyshyn-Shymko has been focusing on acrylic painting creating contemporary landscapes with swathes of saturated colour and bold outlines of colour blocks to depict shapes and shadow.