Bio

Linda Mitchell is an American artist whose mixed media animal paintings and installations have been featured in over 20 solo exhibitions at museums in the United States.

She was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a family that nurtured her early interest in both animals and making art, she started painting as a child, making animal figures and sewing, all of which informed her work as a mature artist.

After receiving a BFA from University of Georgia, she earned two MFAs from Georgia State University in painting and sculpture. During graduate school, Linda developed a visual language combining her painted and sculptural imagery, resulting in pieces that are complex and dream-like. The artist’s intuitive approach allows poetic meaning to emerge from the highly textural layering of painted and other diverse materials.

I create animals, both real and imagined. In the narrative paintings and installations, they become surrogates for human beings and their emotional lives. Some of the figures speak directly to the child within and the vulnerable, delicate places of the viewer’s own past.

My paintings are often highly textured, combining acrylic paint, powdered pigment, paper, photographs, fabric, and found objects. They coalesce into intricate and surreal scenes, reflecting life’s emotional complexity. I find poetic meaning in elements that are broken, castoff, and unassuming. The repurposing of materials lends a sense of history and alludes to the passage of time and the richness of experience. Fabric scraps and other collected detritus are sewn together to create soft sculptures, which act as central figures in the installation pieces. By working intuitively in diverse media, I layer materials and images to create dream-like scenarios. This creative process, with all its surprises, is like diving into the psyche and seeing what comes up. Continually arising are reflections of my inner world and personal history, and concerns for social equality and global survival.