Mark Mitchell — Full CV

Fiber artist and ceramicist · Tucson, AZ Instagram @itsmarkmitchell

Exhibitions, Performances & Design

2025 May–June — Selected Works from Burial, White Work, and Acid Witch Regency: My Homosexual Home, solo exhibition, Pidgin Palace, Tucson AZ

2022 November–December — New Paintings and Porcelains, solo exhibition, Ghost Gallery, Seattle WA

2022 June–August — Fresh Out, solo exhibition of paintings, Virago Gallery, West Seattle WA

2020 October–January — Arizona Biennial 2020, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson AZ

2020 March — Serenity Now, group exhibition, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix AZ

2020 February–June — After/Life, works from Burial and White Work, Doug Adams Gallery, The Center for the Arts and Religion, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley CA

2020 February–June — Hoodwitch/Badwitch, group exhibition, The Museum of Museums, Seattle WA

2019 March — Subversive White, group exhibition, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix AZ

2018 February — High Fiber, group exhibition, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson AZ

2016 November — Burial, solo exhibition, Zoukak Theater Company and Cultural Association, Dawawine, Beirut, Lebanon

2016 September — Still Life, costume design commissioned by Morgan Thorson, TBA Festival, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art / Portland Art Museum, Portland OR

2016 September–October — Wedding Band, costume design commissioned by the Intiman Theater Group, Seattle WA

2016 August — Out of Sight, group exhibition, Vital 5 Productions, Seattle WA

2016 August — What You See is What You Sweat, group exhibition, CoCA, Seattle WA

2015 September–October — The Neddy Award at Cornish, group exhibition, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle WA

2015 September–October — Full Gallop, with Mercedes Ruehl, costume design commissioned by The Old Globe, San Diego CA

2015 January — Follies, solo sculpture exhibition, Roq La Rue Gallery, Seattle WA

2014 March–September — Angels in America, 20th Anniversary production, costume designs commissioned by the Intiman Theater Group, Seattle WA

2014 February — Is There No Exit From the Carnage of Virginia Woolf's Private Life?, performance and costumes commissioned by City Arts Genre Bender, Seattle WA

2013 September — Mark Mitchell: Burial, collection of burial clothing, solo exhibition, Frye Art Museum, Seattle WA

2013 September — Mark Mitchell: Burial, collection of burial clothing, performance, Frye Art Museum, Seattle WA

2012 June — The Softer Side of Death, soft-form crematory urn, Lundgren Monuments, Seattle WA (Best of Seattle 2012, Seattle Magazine)

2012 June — Waxie Moon's Bolero, costume designer, On the Boards Northwest New Works Festival, Seattle WA

2011 May — Lust For Life, costume collection, designer, Thaw Fashion, Seattle WA

2011 April — Lust For Life, costume collection, designer, Worn Out: The Stranger Fashion Show, Seattle WA

2010 May — Burlesque Suite, costume collection, designer, Thaw Fashion, Seattle WA (Best of Seattle 2010, Seattle Magazine)

2009 — Flinch Not and Give Not Back, Bow Dress, with Anna Telcs and Implied Violence, Donau Festival, Krems, Austria (acquired by Frye Art Museum, permanent collection, 2010)

1993 February — Manic Barbie and the Emotional Thrill Junkies, solo exhibition, Fast Forward Gallery, Seattle WA

Teaching, Lectures & Workshops

2016 June 23 — Presentation on privilege and the GWM as racial-equity activist, with Scott Winn. Seattle Presents Gallery, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Seattle WA

2016 May 25 — Presentation on process and development as an artist, historic Monday Morning Speaker Series, Olson Kundig Architects, Seattle WA

2015 November — Studio visits, lecture, senior crits, and workshop, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle WA

2013–present — Annual series of in-studio workshops on hand sewing, traditional silk flower making, and embroidery techniques

2007–2016 — Apprenticeship program, Mark Mitchell Projects, Seattle WA (custom pattern-making, custom fitting, fine fabrics, hand-sewing and fine-sewing techniques)

2013–2015 — Job Shadow Program, School of Apparel Design and Development, Seattle Central Community College, Seattle WA

2007–2013 — The Inevitable Bag, workshop, Seattle WA

Awards, Residencies & Fellowships

2018 February — Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT

2016 — The Kayla Skinner Special Recognition Award, Betty Bowen Committee, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA

2016 — The Betty Bowen Award, Seattle Art Museum, finalist, Seattle WA

2016 May–July — Casket Pall open studio residency, Seattle Municipal Gallery, Seattle WA

2016 — The Arts Innovator Award, Artist Trust, finalist, Seattle WA

2016 March–April — Creative Exchange Lab Residency, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, Portland OR

2015 — The Neddy Award at Cornish, finalist, Seattle WA

2015 April–August — Research and production residency, The New Foundation Seattle, Seattle WA

2014 — Materials grant, Visual AIDS, New York NY

2013 — Support from the Beck Hallmann Fund, the Seattle Foundation, Seattle WA

Selected Press

Nate Lippens, "Of Pride and Place," Maggot Brain, Autumn 2025.

Cameron Mason, "Fashioning Eternity," Surface Design Association Journal, April 2014.

Jen Graves, "Top Ten Works of Art," The Stranger, December 2013.

Amanda Manitach, "Here's Looking At You, Kid," City Arts, December 2013.

T.s. Flock, "Mark Mitchell / Burial and the Eternal Human," Vanguard Seattle, October 2013.

Marcy Stone-Francois, "Mark Mitchell," short documentary film, Frye Art Museum, September 2013 (screened at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, October 2013).

Jen Graves, "Don't Die: The Horizontal and the Vertical of Mark Mitchell's Burial Clothes at the Frye," The Stranger, October 2013.

Marti Jonjak, "Mark Mitchell's Burial Ensembles," The Stranger, October 2013.

Amanda Manitach, "The Burlesque of a Slow Reveal," City Arts, September 2013.

Amanda Manitach, "The Last Look," cover feature, City Arts Magazine, August 2013.

Jen Graves, "What Will You Wear When You Die?," The Stranger, January 2013.

Brangien Davis, "Greg Lundgren's Death Wish," Seattle Magazine, October 2012.

Amanda Manitach, "The Softer Side of Death," City Arts, May 2012.

Jen Graves, "Haven't Things Already Gone South?," The Stranger, May 2012.

Robin Updike, "Mythic Barbie: Dolls With An Edge," The Seattle Times, March 1993.

Design Experience

2011–present — Mark Mitchell Burial. Garments and objects for burial, cremation, and burial-at-sea.

2007–present — It's Mark Mitchell, custom costume and stage-wear, Seattle WA (clients include Liv Warfield, Erik Blood, Tendai Maraire / Shabazz Palaces, King Dude, the Ononos, Marc Kenison)

2007–2008 — Helen Sharp Knitwear, designer, Seattle WA / New York NY (clients included Michael Kors, Banana Republic, and Joseph Abboud)

Related Professional Experience

1999 — Sports et Divertissements, adapter/director, Seattle Fringe Festival, Seattle WA

1998 — All About Medea, three-act play, writer/producer, ReBar, Seattle WA

1992–2000 — Tattoo You, tattoo artist/piercer, Seattle WA (with Lamar Van Dyke)

1992 — Greek Active Theater, Medea, founding member/producer, Seattle WA (with Dan Savage)

1991–1992 — Studied tattooing with Vyvyn Lazonga, Seattle WA

1988–1992 — Seattle Children's Theatre, costume designer and shop manager, Seattle WA

1984–1988 — Bathhouse Theatre, costume designer and shop manager, under artistic director Arne Zaslove. Designed numerous full productions including The Three Sisters, Othello, and The Imaginary Invalid, Seattle WA

1984 — La Jolla Playhouse, dresser/wardrobe, La Jolla CA (original work under directors Bill Irwin and Des McAnuff)

Education

The Evergreen State College — BA, Writing, 1997–98

Arizona State University — Costume Design, English Literature, 1982–1984