Well known for his figurative works, landscapes, and still lifes, Dean L. Mitchell was born in 1957 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and reared in Quincy, Florida. He is a graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to watercolor, he is accomplished in other mediums, including egg tempera, oil, and pastel.
His art can be found in corporate and museum collections across the country, including the Arkansas Art Center, the Autry Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Gadsden Art Center, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Mississippi Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Louis Art Museum, and the Library of Congress.
He has received more than 400 awards, including First Prize from the T. H. Saunders International Artists in Watercolor Competition, London, England; the American Watercolor Society’s Gold and Silver Medals; Allied Artists of America’s Gold Medal in Watercolor and Oil; the Thomas Moran Award from the Salmagundi Club in New York; the Loa Ruth Sprung Award from the National Watercolor Society, Phoenix Art Museum; a Silver Medal Award for works on paper at the Phoenix Art Museum’s West Select; and for three years in a row, the Best in Show Award from the Mississippi Watercolor Society’s Grand National Competition.
In 2017 Mitchell was one of eight artists showcased in Woolaroc Museum’s The Best of the Best Retrospective Exhibit and Sale, and he won the Wells Fargo Two-Dimensional Award at the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale. Mitchell is an eight-time winner of the Autry Museum Award for Watercolor at the Masters of the American West, most recently in 2017. In 2015 he received a Gold Medal from the American Watercolor Society and the Donald Teague Memorial and Robert Lougheed Memorial Awards at the Prix de West. In addition, one of his paintings was recently purchased for the permanent collection of the Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York. At the 2014 Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale, Mitchell received the William E. Weiss Purchase Award. He is a member of several professional societies, including the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society.
Mitchell and his work have been featured in American Artist, Art News, Artist, Christian Science Monitor, Fine Art International, the New York Times, and Western Art Collector.