"Quartet: Elephant" Painting

Linda Mitchell, who was born in Atlanta in 1960, grew up in a family that nurtured her strong, early interest in both animals and making art. As a child, she started painting, making animal figurines, and sewing, all of which informed her work as a mature artist. ​Mitchell earned a BFA at UGA in Drawing & Painting in 1982. She received MFA’s in painting (1990), and sculpture (1994) from GSU. The paintings and sculptures focused on narrative scenarios depicting animal figures, emphasizing their human qualities. Collage became a great interest near the end of graduate school, allowing her to combine her impulse for image-making with her sculptural facility. ​Mitchell began creating large paintings that combined actual objects with painted illusion. She began using an intuitive approach to allow poetic meaning to emerge from the highly textural layering of painted and digital images with a variety of materials. She also began making animal figures using Play-Doh and began sewing fabric animals as well. These figures are used as models for paintings and as photographic images collaged to the surface of pieces. Mitchell's work can be found in numerous corporate and private collections. She has exhibited extensively with solo exhibitions at numerous museums, art centers and galleries throughout the US.