Artist Statement
The paintings emerge from what I hear in the living world. The images are often of recurring themes in nature such as cycles of growth and decay, regeneration, expressions of the divine feminine, and subtle appearances of animacy, or aliveness. I am very interested in how my experience as a woman is mirrored in nature, and in the structural reflections between our micro and macro environments. Using an intuitive method of painting, with personal metaphors of nature and the feminine, my work embraces the essence of cyclical living, both in a woman’s body and within the earth’s ecosystem. Oftentimes my paintings depict sensations; a kind of inner knowing, impulse, and trust in what comes through when I listen. In a time where everything feels linear and fast, my paintings encourage the motion of slowing down, and wandering into the cyclicality of being, and conceiving life.
Artist CV
Education:
San Jose State University (BFA in Pictorial Arts), Fall 2019 – Fall 2021
Cabrillo College (AA in Fine Arts, Art History, and Liberal Arts), 2016 – 2019
Past Exhibitions:
Emergence, or Coming Into Prominence, group show, curated by Pajaro Valley Arts Council: Kalil Mitchell, et al, June 2023, Pajaro Valley Arts Center, Santa Cruz, CA.
Twinning Aufheben, group show, curated by Jack Arthur Wood: Kalil Mitchell, Jack Arthur Wood, Richard Tinkler, et al, November 2022, Sweet Loraine Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
A Brush of Inspiration, annual juried member show, curated by Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society: Kalil Mitchell, et al, April 2022, Addison/Penzak Jewish Community Center, San Jose, CA.
Interbeing, solo exhibition: Kalil Mitchell, November 1-5th 2021, SJSU Theta Belcher Gallery, CA.
Intuitive Origins, solo exhibition: Kalil Mitchell, February 2020, SJSU Gallery 8, CA.
Block Party, group show, curated by Lydia Harder, et al: Kalil Mitchell, Lydia Harder, et al, July 2019, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA.
Cabrillo 12x12, community show: Kalil Mitchell, et al, October 2018, Cabrillo College Art Gallery, CA.
Awards:
Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, Champion Art Scholarship, 2021.
Cabrillo College, Frances Marie Morrow Memorial Art Endowed Scholarship, 2019.
Cabrillo College, Ralph Rapattoni Memorial Watercolor Endowed Scholarship, 2018.