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| BIOGRAPHY | |
 portrait by Stephanie Blair Mitchell, 1998 |
John Blair Mitchell, Professor Emeritus of Towson University, painter, printmaker, photographer, art community activist, is featured here in a major retrospective of his art. A teacher for more than fifty years and an artist for longer, Dr. Mitchell's lifetime work is surveyed in a tribute to his many years at Towson University in Baltimore. This exhibition presents his paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, ceramics, and sculpture, spotlighting some never-before-shown paintings completed in 1999 just before his death at the age of 78. A member of Towson University's art department since 1949 (department chair 1951-1957, 1963-1965), he coordinated its graduate art program from 1963-1991, served a term on the University Senate, and was presented the "President's Award for Distinguished Service to the University" at the 1986 commencement. While he retired from fulltime teaching in 1991, he continued to teach one printmaking course each semester until 1996. |
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A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Mitchell studied at Pratt Institute and Pratt Graphics, earned his B.S.
and M.A. at Columbia University (where he was a member of the art department summer faculty) and
his Ph.D. at New York University (where he was an art department insructor at its School of Education).
From 1963-1973 he was instructor in graphics at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where he was also a
founding member of its Print & Drawing Society in 1968 and a member of the society board of directors
till 1999. An early member of the Maryland Printmakers, he served on its board several years and on the
board of the Maryland Art Place from 1986-1989. As president of Maryland Artists Equity Association
(1964-1966) and National Artists Equity Association (1975-1977), he testified for arts legislation before
the Baltimore City Council, the Maryland State Legislature, and the U.S. Congress.
Dr. Mitchell won first place awards for paintings, graphics, ceramics, and photographs, including the $2500 first award in the 1972 "Maryland Artists Today" invitational in Baltimore. A Civic Design Commision for a 7'x24' mural for City Hospitals (now Bayview Medical Center) was awarded him in 1972-1973. He is represented in many permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Georgetown University Library, the University of Maryland at College Park, the University of Maryland in Baltimore, Western Maryland College, Morgan State University, and Towson University (where his painting hangs in the Center for the Arts Building lobby entrance). He has been listed in Who's Who inAmerica, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in American Art, Outstanding Educators of America, and Artists/USA. |
| Mitchell's many solo exhibitions include the Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, the Easton Academy of the Arts, the Maryland Science Center, York College, Catonsville Community College, the Jewish Community Center, Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Hoffberger Gallery (1971, 1986, 1998), and Towson University (1964, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1988). More recently he was awarded a purchase prize at the March, 1999, "11th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition" juried at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, and was included in statewide juried exhibitions at Government House and the State House in Annapolis in 1997 and 1998. |
 portrait by Jennifer Mitchell, 1988 |
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A resident for many years of Cub Hill in Baltimore County, where he shared a studio with his wife,
Marge, also an artist, he operated his own etching press, photographic darkroom, and woodshop
where he designed his own frames and other pieces of furniture and utilitarian objects of art.
The retrospective is exhibited in the Holtzman Gallery, Center for the Arts, Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland, from June 17 - July 29, 2000, with the opening reception celebrated on Friday, June 16, 7 - 9 pm. Admission is free. |
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Permanent Collection Solo Exhibitions Awards |
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"The important thing is to develop a personalized method of expression . . . view the world the way they see it rather than the way I see it or anyone else sees it." -- John Blair Mitchell, Towerlight, 11/13/85, speaking about teaching students
"He is the greatest artist who has embodied in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas. |