About
Keith Mitchell is a conceptual photographer and sculptor based on Vancouver Island, Canada. His practice combines constructed wooden sculptures with experimental digital photography to explore the relationships between light, shadow, and perception. Through a series of interconnected photographic projects, Mitchell investigates how spatial structures, illumination, and shadow can transform ordinary forms into images that hover between physical reality and psychological experience.
Mitchell’s paintings, drawings, and assemblages of the 1970s through the ’90s explored themes inspired by utopian archetypes, ancient iconography, and the transcendental voyage of the artist as poet. His large-scale canvases, constructions, and assemblages operate on multiple levels of symbolism, contributing to a dynamic interplay between rational and intuitive contemplation.
In recent years, Mitchell’s interest has shifted to exploring new possibilities within the digital photographic medium. Influenced by modernist photography and architecture, Mitchell has come to focus his attention on the effect of light and shadow on geometric shapes he has assembled to form sculptural models. Each model comprises interchangeable wooden components that offer a choice of multiple photographic viewpoints. The variation in abstract forms and placements allows for the capture of strategically placed light on detail, as well as the entirety of each model. He draws comparisons of these variations to classical music and jazz, where a central rhythm may inform several melodic variations.
The Artist as a Visionary is a metaphorical meditation on the creative process, a poetic exploration of the artist’s journey into the subconscious mind.
Keith Mitchell, The Artist as a Visionary, pencil on paper, 1989
Keith Mitchell
Lives and works in Nanoose Bay, Canada
Education
1974 Alberta College of Art, postgraduate studies, Calgary, AB
1972 Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
1971 Alberta College of Art, Diploma of Fine Arts, Calgary, AB
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Phantom Shadows, Patron Art House, Vancouver, BC
1992 Recent Work, Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1992 The Poetics of Reasoning, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton, BC
1990 The Ladder of Vision, Open Space Gallery, Victoria, BC
1988 Terragrams and Callligrams, University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery,
Vancouver, BC
Group Exhibitions
2018 Capture Photography Festival, Vancouver, BC
2013-14 YVR Art Foundation, Vancouver, BC
1993 Artropolis 93: Public Art & Art about Public Issues, Vancouver, BC
1992 Appropriation- A Group Show, Catriona Jefferies Gallery, Vancouver BC
1991 Fresh Art, Catriona Jefferies Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1987 Out of Context, Cartwright Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1994 Summer Exhibition, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver BC
1983 World Conference of Churches Art Exhibition, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC
1982 Marks and Surfaces, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey BC
1981 Malaspina Printmakers Exhibition, Robson Square Media Centre,
Vancouver, BC
1980 Exhibition of Four Artists, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, BC
1978 Malaspina Printmakers, Burnaby Art Gallery, BC
1974 Young Contemporary Calgary Artist, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, AB
1971 The 11th Annual Calgary Graphics Exhibition, Calgary, AB
Reviews
1992 Georgia Straight, “Lines of Intuitive Power”, by Robin Laurence
The Vancouver Sun, Saturday Review, by Ann Rosenberg
1990 Preview of the Visual Arts, “Preview”, Mia Johnson
1989 Times Colonist, “Best Exhibitions of 1990” by Robert Amos
Monday Magazine, “Mitchell’s Ladder”, by Bruce Grierson
Times Colonist, “Artist’s Metaphysical Secret”, by Robert Amos
1988 The Vancouver Sun, “Into a mysterious dream world where the irrational
is the The Rule”, by Elizabeth Godley
The Province, “Magical Innocence”, by Art Perry
1982 Vanguard, Volume 14, Number 62, “Marks and Surfaces”, by Roger Malbert
Artmagazine, Volume 14, Number 62, “Mark and Surfaces”,
by Susan J. Stewart
Exhibition Catalogues
2018 Capture Photography Festival
1993 ARTROPOLIS 93 Public Art and Art About Public Issues
1988 KEITH MITCHELL: TERRAGRAPHS & CALLIGRAMS
1978 Malaspina Printmakers at the Burnaby Art Gallery
1974 YOUNG CONTEMPORARY CALGARY ARTISTS EXHIBITION
1971 The 11th Annual Calgary Graphics Exhibition
Poster
1988 KEITH MITCHELL: TERRAGRAPHS & CALLIGRAMS, April 6 - 29, 1988
UBC Fine Arts Gallery
Collections
Art Bank, (Ottawa, Ontario)
British Columbia Art Collection, (Victoria, BC)
Burnaby Art Gallery, (Burnaby, BC)
Twin Rivers Gallery, (Prince George, BC)
Catriona Jefferies Gallery, (Vancouver,BC)
Numerous Private Collections
Awards
1978 Honourable Mention, juried exhibition, Malaspina Printmaker’s at the
Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby,
1971 6-month Scholarship, Alberta Cultural Board for study at Instituto Allende,
San Miguel de Allende,
1971 Top Award for Graduating Students, juried Exhibition, Alberta College of Art,
Calgary, AB