Closing Day

Encounters: Dean Mitchell

Sunday, March 20 | 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Enjoy a last chance to view Encounters: Dean Mitchell.

The engaging works of this master watercolorist from Tampa, FL encompass portraits, landscapes and still lifes in the realist tradition. In addition to watercolor, Mitchell is accomplished in other media including egg tempera, oil and pastel. His reputation hinges largely on his superb craftsmanship, the emotional depth of his work, his avoidance of facile sentimentality, and his skilled sense of formal design. The artist engages with Black Identity by drawing his subjects mainly from
African American culture.

Of his preferred subject matter, Mitchell notes, “Artists are observers of life, and it is natural that I would first gravitate to the space which I occupy. The neighborhoods I was raised in were segregated. Most of my teachers were Black. Churches I attended were Black, so it is natural for me as an artist to create works that reflect my own personal experience.”

Born in Pittsburgh, PA and reared in the small town of Quincy in the Florida Panhandle, Mitchell is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, OH. He has won many prestigious awards over the course of his career, and his work can be found in public collections across the country, including the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the St. Louis Museum of Art, and the Huntsville Museum of Art, among others. Organized by HMA.