Dennis Lee Mitchell
Recent Solo Exhibitions
2025 Maya Frodeman Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (Forthcomning)
2024 Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
"Through an Open Flame" Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2023 "Playing With Fire" Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2022 "Infinite Musings" Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
2021 “Recorded Traces” Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
“Dennis Lee Mitchell” William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
“Infinite Musings” Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
2019 “Smoke Remains”, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2018 “Smoke” Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2017 “Smoke Theory” Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
“Smoke Drawings” William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado,
2015 “Smoke on Paper” Todd Weiner Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
2014 “Smoke Drawings” William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2013 “Dennis Lee Mitchell Smoke Drawings,” C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland
2011 “Distillation,” Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2009 “Origin,” Alcoma Gallery, Athens, Greece
2008 “Human Nature,” Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2007 “Material Transformation,” Kemper Art Gallery, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Chicago, Illinois
2006 “Sense of Origin,” Clarke House Museum, Chicago, Illinois
“Source,” Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2005 “Manifest,” Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2003 “Ceramic Sculptures,” Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa
“New Works,” Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Recent Group Exhibitions
2024 Sohn Fine Art Gallery, "Salon Des Hivers" Lenox, Massachusetts
Jerald Melberg Gallery, 40 yrs Exhibition, Charolette, North Carolina
Seager/Gray Gallery, Material Matters, Mill Vallery, California
2023 Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charolette, North Carolina
"It happened one night", Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
2022 William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2019 Neptune/Brown Gallery, Washington D.C.
2018 Heather Gaudio Gallery, New Canaan, Connecticut
2016 U.S. State Department, Art in Embassy Exhibition, U.S.
Embassy, Ankara, Turkey, (February)
2015 “Two Person Show”, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
U.S. State Department, Art in Embassy Exhibition, Curated by Sara Tanguy, U.S.
Embassy, Ankara, Turkey
2014 “New Media Exploration,” University of St. Francis, University Art Gallery, Fort
W ayne, Indiana
2013 “Mighty Small,” Patraidas Contemporary, Ogden, Utah
2012 “Dennis Lee Mitchell/Olivia Petraides/Lisa Sambor,” Ukrainian Institute of Modern
Art, Chicago, Illinois
“We Find Our Way,” Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, New Jersey
2011 “Sculpture Today: New Forces, New Forms,” Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture
Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2010 CAA Seoul 2010, Kepco Art Center, Seoul, South Korea
The Chicago Art Loop Open, Chicago, IL
NCECA 2010 Invitational, Moore Galleries, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Trompe L’Oeil,” John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California
2009 “Considering Spring,” Pacini Lubel Gallery, Seattle, Washington “Perspective,”
Function Art, Chicago, IL
The 5th World Contemporary Ceramic Biennale, Icheon-city South Korea
2008 “The Leaf and the Page,” Illinois State Museum, Chicago, IL “Revisions,”
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Trompe L’Oeil, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California
2007 Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju City, Chungbuk, South Korea,
Honorable Mention
“Botanical,” Santa Fe Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Sculpture Invasion,” Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Des
Plaines, IL
Art XIII, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, California
21st International Juried Exhibition, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
"Match", Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2006 “Ingrained Passion,” Function + Art, Chicago, Illinois
Krasl Biennial Sculpture Invitational, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, Michigan
Rockford Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Museum of Art, Rockford, IL
“30 Ceramic Sculptors,” John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA “Nature/Culture,” Santa Fe
Clay, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Chicago Sculptors Biennale, Flatfile Galleries, Chicago, IL
Biennale, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
“People of the Mud: A Look at Chicago Ceramics,” Chicago Tourism Center, Chicago,
Illinois
Selected Bibliography
2024 Home & Design Magazine, January, 2024, "Smoke Signals" pages 138-139
Robin Dluzen, Dennis Lee Mitchell's Poetry of Smoke
Donald Kuspit, Smoke as Medium, Dennis Lee Mitchell's Art
2023 Northern Virginia Magazine, June 2023, "Playing with Fire" pages 49-53
Art & Antiques, September/October 2023, "Up in Smoke" page 34
2022 Whitefish Review, Volume 14, Issue 1, Summer/Fall 2022, Dennis Lee Mitchell, U Untitled (3204), pager 76
2021 Denver Art Review, Smoke Drawings by Dennis Lee Mitchell at William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado
2019 Washington Post, “Review of Smoke Drawings by Dennis Lee Mitchell at Gallery Neptune & Brown, Washington, D.C.
2018 Donald Kuspit, Dennis Lee Mitchell’s Smoke Drawings,
2016 “Cinder There Is: Surrealism and the Smoke Drawings of Dennis Lee Mitchell,”
H. Peter Steeves, Philosophy Department, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois Baltimore Sun, “Review of Smoke Drawings by Dennis Lee Mitchell at C. Grimaldis
Gallery,” Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore City Paper, “Review of Smoke Drawings by Dennis Lee Mitchell at
C. Grimaldis Gallery”, Baltimore, Maryland
2012 Donald Kuspit Essay, “Dennis Lee Mitchell’s Smoke Drawings and Related Works”
Victor M. Cassidy, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art Catalog Essay, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois
Northwest Passage, Review of Exhibition, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois
2011 Paul Klein, “Dennis Lee Mitchell,” Paul Klein Art Letter
Victor M. Cassidy, “Dennis Lee Mitchell,” Chicago Art Magazine
2009 “Adventures of the Fire,” World Ceramic Biennale, Icheon-city, South Korea 2008 Margaret Hawkins, “Dennis Lee Mitchell Natural Fragments,” Ceramic Art and
Perception
Alan Artner, Dennis Lee Mitchell, Review, Solo Exhibition at Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2008
2006 John Natsoulis, “30 Ceramic Sculptors 2006,” John Natsoulis Press
2005 Bridgette R. McCullough, Review, Solo Exhibition at Dubhe Carreño Gallery, Time-Out Chicago
Elaine Levin, “I Have Always Been Driven with Desire for the Straightforward Truth of the Natural World,” Ceramic Art and Perception
Glen R. Brown, Review of Solo Exhibition at Dubuque Museum of Art, American Ceramics, 14/4
2003 Glen R. Brown, “Dennis Lee Mitchell’s Microcosm of Transformation,” Solo Exhibition Catalogue of Solo Show at Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa
Tarkassis, Kostas, “Dennis Lee Mitchell,” Kerameiki Techni
Public Collections
Thrivent Financial Collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin
Illinois State Art Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Valley State University Collection, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri
Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, Arizona
Deloitte & Touche Collection, Chicago, Illinois
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois
Illinois Collection for the State of Illinois Center, Chicago, Illinois
Private Collections
Anne Finkelman, Chicago, Illinois
Frank Paluch, Oak Park, Illinois
Lindsay McDonald, Chicago, Illinois
Christopher & Beverly With, Washington D.C.
Svend Ollei, Ambassador, Denmark
Sarah Sivright, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Larry Bakin, Arlington, Virginia
Hyang-Lim Han, Director, Hanhyanglim Gallery, South Korea
Paul Klein, Chicago, Illinois
William Lieberman, Chicago, Illinois
Kostas Tarkassis, Greece
Hector Mavridis, Greece
Grants and Awards
2018-19 Art Bank Grant, D.C., Commission on the Arts, Washington, D.C.
2016-17 Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant
2016 On site Lectures, U.S. Art in Embassy Program, Ankara, Turkey
2016 Art Bank, D.C. Commission on the Arts
2015 Art Bank, D.C. Commission on the Arts
2014 Art Bank, D.C. Commission on the Arts
2004 Illinois Arts Council, Special Assistance Grant
1977 National Endowment for the Arts, Crafts Critic Fellowship Grant
1975-6 National Endowment for the Arts, Craftsmen’s Fellowship Grant
Education
1971 Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
1969 Master of Arts in Ceramics, Fort Hays Kansas State University, Hays, Kansas
1968 Bachelor of Arts, Fort Hays Kansas State University, Hays, Kansas