Works by Deborah Mitchell, a recipient of the Laura Grace Barrett Printmaking Residency
Showing June 4 & 5 only in the LGB Gallery (at the entrance of the ZACC Print Shop), opening First Friday June 4 from 5-8 PM

In Deborah’s words:

“In my search for inspiration I always circle back to the natural world. I usually work in series and my most recent direction has been exploring gardens and parks. I want to convey the fleeting nature of gardens by giving just enough information that a general idea comes forward yet with attention to smaller additions in the detail. Not articulating an exact likeness or specificity plays into how our memory of a certain light or climate is similar to our peripheral vision. Something is there, we know it and even though we can’t see it clearly, we recognize it, we remember it. I play with color in this way, approximating a flower, a garden, or a pathway. Gardens were an important element in my childhood. My mother was a Master Gardener, president of her garden club, and a generous spirit. She volunteered many times to do the wedding flowers for couples who couldn’t afford them, even taking flowers from our own gardens. I worked throughout last summer to create The Garden Gallery in my mother’s memory (please refer to the attached television segment.) I taught socially distanced classes outside and created a group exhibition for the annual Black Hills studio tour, Fall Colors Art Studio Tour. I am also inspired by art history and have traveled extensively to see famous artworks and museums. When my studio was set fire one of the remaining items was a partially burnt first edition of “What is Art” by Tolstoy that had belonged to my grandmother from her days in art school. I plan on taking pages of this book and using the text as prompts for an image which I will paint or print directly onto the page.”

ABOUT DEBORAH MITCHELL
I am an artist, educator, and curator. Having grown up outside of Boston I was fortunate enough to have access to great art at a young age. My love of the outdoors led me to the west and much of my interest has focused on landscape and the environment. In 1987 I received my MFA in printmaking from Utah State University. While studying for my degree I was a Graduate Intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. While in New York I also studied with Bob Blackburn at the Lower Eastside Print Studio doing plein air monotypes through out Manhattan. From my experience at the MET I focused on my curatorial skills and became the curator of the Missoula Museum of the Arts, now Missoula Art Museum from 18989 to 1995. In 1996 I moved to a rural part of Washington State to fulfill the dream of building a painting studio only to realize that working in isolation was not something that I enjoyed. While there I discovered a love of teaching as an adjunct professor at a small college in Washington State and have been teaching ever since. I was a sabbatical replacement for painting studio at Montana State University in 1998 before being hired at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. From 1999 until I retired in 2018, I was the Director of the Apex Gallery as well as associate professor in the Humanities Department at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology where I taught Art History and Drawing. I have been a consultant with Western State Arts Federation, WESTAF in Washington state, Conference Chair for Art Culture Nature, Project Director for the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest in Kenya, and presented to scientists on the value of the arts in interpretation and education during the Deep Underground Science Laboratory Conference in Lead, SD. I have exhibited in Turkey, Italy, Kenya, Finland, Germany, and Greece as well as nationally. In 2006 and 2018 I was awarded a South Dakota Arts Council Fellowship. In 2009 I was awarded research funding through the Provost at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and used the money to travel to Florence, Italy where I stayed for a month creating monotypes and researching Renaissance art. Most recently my artwork was chosen for purchase for the Art in Public Building Program for the State of South Dakota. I am currently exhibiting work in the 9th South Dakota Governor’s Biennial Exhibition which travels the state as well as Proof of Life, an exhibition in the Dahl Art Center, Rapid City which focuses on responses to the COVID lockdown. My work is in the collection of the Utah Arts Council, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, the Yellowstone Art Center, the Ray and Barbara Graham Collection of Albuquerque, NM, and numerous private collections.