A native New Yorker, Douglas Navarra was introduced to ceramics in his early teens. It was the motivating force in attending Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia where he received a BFA ('76). He went on to further study receiving his MFA three years later ('79) from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

His interest in ceramics assumes a functional/utilitarian perspective with a particular interest in the role of ceramic history and tradition. Among his numerous accomplishments are included a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship and an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Fellowship