{{Short description|American painter}} {{for|the musician with the same name|Saxsquatch}} {{Infobox person | name =Dean Mitchell | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1957}} | birth_place =Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. | education = Columbus College of Art & Design, Illustration, 1980<ref>{{cite web |title=CCAD Alumni Awards |url=https://www.ccad.edu/ccad-alumni-awards |website=CCAD |access-date=17 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> | occupation = figurative artist | website = {{URL|deanmitchellstudio.com}} }} '''Dean Mitchell''' (born 1957) is an American figurative artist who works primarily in watercolor and oil paint. His subjects, derived largely from African American culture, have been cited for their emotional depth, avoidance of facile sentimentality, and accomplished sense of formal design.<ref name="TB">[http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/dean-mitchells-soul-satisfying-art-exhibit-now-at-leepa-rattner-museum-of/1082210 Dean Mitchell's soul-satisfying art exhibit now at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806115427/http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/dean-mitchells-soul-satisfying-art-exhibit-now-at-leepa-rattner-museum-of/1082210 |date=2017-08-06 }}. Tampa Bay.com. Retrieved July 31, 2010.</ref>
Mitchell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1957, and raised in Quincy, Florida.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.floridablackhistory.com/rotunda.cfm |title=Biography, Florida Blackloquence of his concentration and touch. |access-date=2010-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622125644/http://www.floridablackhistory.com/rotunda.cfm |archive-date=2017-06-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Kimmelman, Michael. [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/arts/art-review-a-black-world-of-ins-and-outs.html A Black World Of Ins and Outs]. ''New York Times'', April 26, 2002. Retrieved July 31, 2010.</ref><ref>For cultural critic Reginald Gant, Mitchell’s art "comes right out of the African-American experience. It’s the result of an aural construct—‘call and response’—that evolved during slavery (one group of slaves would sing out, and another group would respond). Imperative in these exchanges were issues of faith, trust, and perseverance."</ref> After graduating from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1980, Mitchell moved to Kansas City, Missouri and started working as an illustrator at Hallmark Cards. He remained at Hallmark for the next three years and began entering national and international art competitions. When Hallmark terminated his employment in 1983, he decided to pursue painting as a full-time career.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Janicke|first=Tim|title=Off the Easel of Success|date=March 3, 2002|work=Kansas City Star Magazine}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
Mitchell's artwork has been the subject of numerous articles, and is represented in museum and corporate collections, including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.<ref name="ANC">[http://theautry.org/masters/2008/artist_page.php?queue=43 Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713210148/http://theautry.org/masters/2008/artist_page.php?queue=43 |date=2010-07-13 }}. Autry National Center. Retrieved July 31, 2010.</ref> His life is the subject of an illustrated book for children, ''Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell's Story.''
Mitchell has also illustrated US postage stamps, such as the 1995 Louis Armstrong stamp in the Jazz Musician series.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jazz Musicians: Louis Armstrong |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/artofthestamp/subpage%20table%20images/artwork/arts/Louis%20Armstrong/louisarmstrong.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031216013328/http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/artofthestamp/SubPage%20table%20images/artwork/arts/Louis%20Armstrong/louisarmstrong.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 16, 2003 |website=postalmuseum.si.edu |access-date=26 December 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=African American Stamp Artists |url=https://www.esperstamps.org/african-american-stamp-artists |website=ESPER (African American Stamp Society ) |access-date=26 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
==Exhibitions== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Exhibit ! class="unsortable" | Venue ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1990|| ''Reflections ‘90'' ||Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, Kansas City, MO || Juried exhibition. Allen’s oil painting “Big Wind” features a jazz bassist. Other artists included Richard McGill, Dean Mitchell, and Joseph L. Smith.<ref>{{cite news |title=Reflections '90 |work=Kansas City Star |date=9 September 1990 |page=150}}</ref> |- |1996 |''A Dean Mitchell Anthology'' |Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS |Solo exhibition featuring architectural watercolors, oil paintings, and portraits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beach.k-state.edu/explore/exhibitions/archive/1996-1998/|title=Exhibition Archive: 1996-1998 {{!}} Past Exhibitions {{!}} Exhibitions {{!}} Explore {{!}} Beach Museum of Art {{!}} Kansas State University|website=beach.k-state.edu|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/KSULKSColl199697V101N4185|title=Kansas State collegian|date=1997|publisher=Student Publications, Inc. (1946-1955). Prior to 1946, Kansas State University.|others=Kansas State University Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/a-dean-mitchell-anthology/221503|title=A Dean Mitchell Anthology {{!}} Exhibition|last=ArtFacts|website=ArtFacts|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- | 1999||''The Kansas City Six: A Reunion''|| Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, Kansas City, MO || Exhibit featured art by Leroy Allen, Thomas Blackshear II, Henry Dixon, Jonathan Knight, Dean Mitchell, Ezra Tucker.<ref>{{cite news |title=Openings |work=Kansas City Star |date=12 February 1999 |page=I5}}</ref> |- | 2002||''Black Romantic''||Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, NY|| Artists included Dean Mitchell, Troy L. Johnson, Kadir Nelson and Kehinde Wiley.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kimmelman |first1=Michael |title=ART REVIEW; A Black World Of Ins and Outs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/arts/art-review-a-black-world-of-ins-and-outs.html |access-date=27 December 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=26 April 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Black romantic: the figurative impulse in contemporary African-American art. |date=2002 |publisher=Studio Museum in Harlem |isbn=9780942949230 |oclc=50256393 |language=en}}</ref> |- |2004 |''Works by Dean Mitchell: Coming Home'' |Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Quincy, FL |Solo exhibition.<ref name="Past Exhibitions">{{Cite web|url=https://gadsdenarts.org/exhibitions/Past|title=Past Exhibitions|website=gadsdenarts.org|access-date=2020-02-22|archive-date=2020-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512033054/https://gadsdenarts.org/exhibitions/Past|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deanmitchellstudio.com/accolades/|title=Accolades {{!}} Dean Mitchell Studio|website=deanmitchellstudio.com|date=20 February 2018 |access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2004 |''Art: My Window to the World'' |American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO |Solo exhibition featuring 100 oil paintings, drawings, watercolors, and etchings.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Thorson|first=Alice|title=Mitchell's 'Window' offers singular view of black culture|date=December 12, 2004|work=Kansas City Star}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell, Dean Lamont">{{Cite web|url=http://216.197.120.164/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1169|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227230538/http://216.197.120.164/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1169|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 27, 2018|title=Mitchell, Dean Lamont|website=216.197.120.164|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- | 2005||''Second Light''|| Carter Art Center Gallery, Penn Valley Community College, Kansas City, MO || Fourteen artists exhibited including Dean Mitchell, Leroy Allen, George Mayfield, and Bonnye Brown.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cardarella |first1=Toni |title=Gallery's show spotlights African-American artists |work=Kansas City Star |date=1 June 2005 |page=3}}</ref> |- |2005 |''Backbone: Dean Mitchell's Images of African-American Men'' |Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS |Solo exhibition featuring 45 portraits of African-American men.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2006/feb/21/portrait-of-a-black-man/|title=Portrait Of A Black Man|last=Collier|first=Natalie A.|website=www.jacksonfreepress.com|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/backbone-dean-mitchell-s-images-of-african-american-men/38731|title=Backbone - Dean Mitchell's Images of African American Men {{!}} Exhibition|last=ArtFacts|website=ArtFacts|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2008 |''Dean Mitchell's New Orleans'' |Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Quincy, FL |Solo exhibition featuring 42 watercolors, acrylic, and oil paintings inspired by New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina.<ref name="Past Exhibitions"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028297/00240/1?search=dean+mitchell|title=Gadsden County times|website=ufdc.ufl.edu|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028297/00239/11?search=dean+mitchell|title=Gadsden County times|website=ufdc.ufl.edu|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2008 |''Everything's a Portrait: The Watercolors of Dean Mitchell'' |Cornell Museum of Art, Delray, FL |Solo exhibition featuring watercolors, as well as etchings, drawings, acrylic and oil paintings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/arts/everythings-a-portrait-watercolors-of-dean-mitchell-6311660|title=Everything's a Portrait: Watercolors of Dean Mitchell|last=Summers|first=Marya|date=2008-05-29|website=New Times Broward-Palm Beach|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xq90ai30u9cC&q=cornell+museum+of+art+and+american+culture+%22dean+mitchell%22&pg=PT112|title=Palm Beach Life|date=December 2007|publisher=Palm Beach Newspapers|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Mitchell, Dean Lamont"/> |- |2010 |''Dean Mitchell: Visions with Heart and Soul'' |Leepa Rattner Museum of Art, Tarpon Springs, FL |Retrospective exhibition featuring drawings, watercolors, acrylic, and oil paintings.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuBSzSx0gz8C&q=%E2%80%9CHeart+and+Soul%E2%80%9D+%22Dean+Mitchell%22+%22Leepa+Rattner%22&pg=PA26|title=Tampa Bay Magazine|date=March–April 2010|publisher=Tampa Bay Publications, Inc.|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/dean-mitchell:-visions-with-heart-and-soul/544400|title=Dean Mitchell: Visions with Heart and Soul {{!}} Exhibition|last=ArtFacts|website=ArtFacts|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2010 |''Dean Mitchell: Space, People and Places'' |Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH |Solo exhibition featuring 40 recent watercolors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://stage3.famcominc.com/Canton/content/dean-mitchell-space-people-places|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222192823/http://stage3.famcominc.com/Canton/content/dean-mitchell-space-people-places|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 22, 2020|title=Dean Mitchell: Space, People & Places {{!}} Canton Museum of Art|website=stage3.famcominc.com|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/dean-mitchell:-space-people-places/311231|title=Dean Mitchell: Space, People & Places {{!}} Exhibition|last=ArtFacts|website=ArtFacts|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2011 |''Dean Mitchell: Rich in Spirit'' |Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Quincy, FL |Solo exhibition.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.southwestart.com/featured/dean-mitchell-rich-in-spirit|title=Dean Mitchell: New Orleans & African American Art|last=Gangelhoff|first=Bonnie|date=2011-03-16|website=Southwest Art Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2015 |''Dean Mitchell: A Place, A Mental Space'' |Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS |Solo exhibition of watercolor and oil paintings of scenes from the Pima-Maricopa Reservation (Phoenix, AZ) and the artist's hometown (Quincy, FL).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://beach.k-state.edu/explore/exhibitions/archive/2014-2016/deanmitchell.html|title=Dean Mitchell: A Place, A Mental Space {{!}} Exhibitions {{!}} Explore {{!}} Beach Museum of Art {{!}} Kansas State University|website=beach.k-state.edu|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/dean-mitchell:-a-place-a-mental-space/684413|title=Dean Mitchell: A Place, A Mental Space {{!}} Exhibition|last=ArtFacts|website=ArtFacts|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> |- |2016 |''Dean Mitchell's American West: Poverty and the Human Spirit'' |Gadsden Arts Center & Museum, Quincy, FL |Solo exhibition exploring poverty and the decay of the built environment inspired by visits to the Pima-Maricopa Reservation in Phoenix, AZ.<ref name="Past Exhibitions"/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00027796/00732/search?search=american%20west+=dean%20mitchell|title=Dean Mitchell's American West opens Jan. 15 at the Gadsden Arts Center|date=January 6, 2016|work=The Calhoun-Liberty Journal|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> |- |2020 |''Looking at America and Painting How I Want, What I Want and How I See It'' |Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA |Solo exhibition featuring watercolor and acrylic paintings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.albanymuseum.com/dean-mitchell.html|title=Dean Mitchell|website=Albany Museum of Art|language=en|access-date=2020-02-22|archive-date=2020-02-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222200442/http://www.albanymuseum.com/dean-mitchell.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=February 2020|title=Looking at America|journal=Western Art Collector|volume=150|pages=30}}</ref> |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.cutterandcutter.com/pages/Dean_Mitchell_Biography Biography, Dean L. Mitchell] *[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/arts/art-review-a-black-world-of-ins-and-outs.html A Black World Of Ins and Outs, Michael Kimmelman. The New York Times, April 26, 2002] *[http://www.kansascity.com/2009/08/17/1389250/former-kc-artist-dean-mitchell.html Former KC artist Dean Mitchell finds a warmer welcome in Florida, Kansas City.com] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170806115427/http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/dean-mitchells-soul-satisfying-art-exhibit-now-at-leepa-rattner-museum-of/1082210 Dean Mitchell's soul-satisfying art exhibit now at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, Tampa Bay.com] *[http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/columnists/sfl-limitchell23sbapr23,0,5365183.story Delray Beach exhibit shows works of watercolorist Dean Mitchell, Sun Sentinel.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080425063851/http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/columnists/sfl-limitchell23sbapr23,0,5365183.story |date=2008-04-25 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080529134247/http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2008-05-29/culture/everything-s-a-portrait-watercolors-of-dean-mitchell/ Everything's a Portrait: Watercolors of Dean Mitchell, Broward Palm Beach New Times] *[http://tboextra.com/content/2010/feb/18/181251/fx-florida-artist-puts-emotion-on-canvas/tboextra/ Florida artist puts emotion on canvas, Tampa Tribune] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170622125644/http://www.floridablackhistory.com/rotunda.cfm Biography, Florida Black History Month, 2010] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725161435/http://www.charlottestreet.org/initiatives/visual/recipients/dean-mitchell/ Biography, Charlotte Street Foundation] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100713210148/http://theautry.org/masters/2008/artist_page.php?queue=43 Biography, Autry National Center] *[http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/mitchell/ Dean Mitchell Artist Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512020103/http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/mitchell/ |date=2016-05-12 }} *[http://www.fatherson.com/book_details.asp?id=25959 Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell's Story] *[http://www.cutterandcutter.com/Artist/Dean_Mitchell/ The Art of Dean Mitchell] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20181227230538/http://216.197.120.164/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1169 Dean Mitchell] on the African American Visual Artists Database *[https://video.westernreservepublicmedia.org/video/western-reserve-public-media-specials-dean-mitchell-at-the-canton-museum-of-art/ Dean Mitchell at the Canton Museum of Art] (2010 profile produced by Western Reserve Public Media) *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09K8QS0NMxM Dean Mitchell's American West] (Video overview produced by Gadsden Arts Center and Museum)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Dean}} Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:Painters from Pittsburgh Category:21st-century American painters Category:20th-century American painters Category:American watercolorists Category:American male painters Category:Columbus College of Art and Design alumni Category:People from Quincy, Florida Category:American stamp designers Category:20th-century African-American painters Category:21st-century African-American artists Category:20th-century American male artists