There is something so compelling about taming fire. Beginning as a ceramicist, David Lee Mitchell was intimate with the properties of heat and, interestingly of the balance and beauty that comes from working with a spinning surface as he does in his mystically beautiful smoke paintings.
Fire is not easily controlled and each work on paper by Mitchell involves as many as 30 – 40 experimental proofs before the artist is satisfied. Achieving dark black, for instance requires about 20 or so layers of smoke. Using acetylene torch, he heats the paper and then orchestrates the movement of the smoke around a void at the center, essentially “drawing” with the smoke created by the flame. In mastering this technique, the artist has been able to impregnate the paper with everything from dark sooty blacks to delicate browns and creams. The images appear to be in constant motion around a hub that is void. The effect is nothing short of magical with Mitchell as the resident wizard.
Dennis Lee Mitchell was born in the town of Larned, Kansas, where he spent much of his childhood exploring the outdoors. He attended Kansas State University at Fort Hays where he received a B.A., followed by an M.F.A in ceramics he earned from Arizona State University. He now lives in Alexandria, Virginia where he also has a 22,000 square foot studio in which to wield his fiery brush. Mitchell has received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. His work is held in many private and public collections including the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the Clarke House Museum in Chicago, and others. He teaches at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.