art
White Out
Gay artist selected for Portland Art Museum's
inaugural Contemporary Northwest Art Awards
by Barbara Ann Hart
eattle gay artist Jeffry Mitchell has
hadn’t gone to art school, Mitchell admits he
something to celebrate: He is one of five
would have been a crafter.
Pacific Northwest artists selected for
If he were to put a label on the style of
Portland Art Museum’s inaugural Con
work he produces, it would be “decorative”
temporary Northwest Art Awards. To and “folk art,” with a good dose of personal
gether with artists Dan Attoe, Cat Clifford, experiences.
Whit
His work does have a crafty
ing Tennis and Marie Watt, he will he recognized
appearance, an homage to his childhood
Although now considered an established artist, Jeffry
in a series of special events that commence with
apprenticeship with his grandmother, and
in a Seattle restaurant as a waiter.
the exhibit’s opening this month.
covers three major disciplines: printmaking,
Anonymous arts professionals nominated 259
illustration and ceramics. All are very detailed,
is this?’ But I thought it was sublime. I think that
artists in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana
with animal and plant motifs, a reflection of his
is one reason I use white. I think my own reason
and Wyoming. Mitchell is excited and honored
Scandinavian heritage. Mitchell frequently incor
might be that I am kind of fair; it is somewhat
that he was one of 34 finalists who received studio
porates the word “HELLO" into his pieces, which
self-portraiture.”
visits from the show’s curator, Jennifer A. Gately.
is a societal way of communicating, sending a
Being gay, and coming out when he was 28
From her visits, five artists were selected. The
message for a response.
years old, has affected his process. He was “deep
award is based on quality, innovation, skill and
Then there are his elephants. His proclivity
asleep,” as he remembers, perhaps because he was
relevance to community or global issues.
for elephants come from somewhere, but he is
closeted for so long. His art is a reflection on his
It’s been an interesting journey for Mitchell,
not sure. Bahar, the fictional character created
sexuality and his desire to liberate himself on his
who, by his own admission, grew up in a cultural
by Jean de Frunhoff, comes to his mind. Dumbo,
uptightness about sex that is associated with his
vacuum. His dad worked for Boeing on military
the floppy-eared Disney character, is a favorite.
Catholic upbringing. Some of the images are vi
contracts, and the family traveled across the
Whatever the influence, most of his pieces have
sualizations he has while having sex. There are
Northwest and Midwest to be near the bases. In
an elephant or two.
holes to represent anuses, and penises are occa
these small towns of 30,000 to 40,000, there were
Mitchell works in white. When asked why
sionally embedded and camouflaged in his intri
no art museums.
white, he recalled a
cate pieces.
Mitchell’s
visit to Switzerland
Because the family moved a lot when he was
grandmother
when he was an
young, Mitchell was never confronted by school
cultivated his in
18-year-old student
bullies like most other gay kids. But the subject
ner artistic voice.
in Rome. Robert
still makes him uncomfortable. Mitchell recently
Through her, he
Ryman had a show
completed a residency at a private school in Knox
learned to sew,
there. All his paint ville, Tenn. He recalls: “The kids were great, but
knit and crochet.
ing were white.
I still get tense when fourth-grade boys beat up on
He liked to work
“There
must
each other in a friendly way and call each other
with his hands
have been 40 paint ‘faggot.’ I still get that ugh, crunchy feeling. In
and would make
ings exactly the
high school, it’s all about fitting in, and to be la
furniture. “Kinda
same size,” Mitchell
beled a faggot was awful. People sometimes called
crafty,” as he calls
recalls. “They were
me a sissy. But no one knew 1 was gay.”
it. Being a gay kid,
square. They were
Everyone in his immediate family of four
and living in the
hung high. It was
brothers and four sisters is accepting and loving.
towns he lived
like heaven. Some
He has a niece who just came out. A sister is very
in, shaped his
people
would
say,
religious
and would prefer he not be gay. “She
A Robert Ryman exhibit in Switzerland inspired
imagination. If he
Jeffry Mitchell to work in white.
‘Oh my God, what
thinks,” Mitchell admits, “it’s curable or some
S
Mitchell still works a couple of nights a week
thing, or a deficiency. Isn’t it funny? It is so sick,
that you wouldn’t want everyone to be fully them
selves, like the wonderfulness of that.”
Mitchell has always worked other jobs. He’s
done manual labor, taught art at a university in
Seattle and taught English in Japan. Although
now considered an established artist, Mitchell
still works a couple of nights a week in a Seattle
restaurant as a waiter. The owner was a student
of his, and Mitchell has watched the restaurant
become very successful and high end. Some of
his work is in the restaurant, and he has sold
pieces there.
He has gotten over the anger of someone who
is making it as an artist with what Mitchell be
lieves are inferior skills. “It doesn’t get you any
where,” he says. ©
P ortland A rt M useum presents Contemporary
Northwest Art Awards from june 14 to Sept. 14 at
1219 S.W. Park Ave. Jeffry Mitchell will participate
in a panel discussion from 2 to 3 p.m. June 15 and a
gallery talk with Metropolitan Museum of Art
curator Denis Patry Leidy from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
July 13.
P ulliam D effenbaugh G allery exhibits Mitchell’s
works on paper through June 28 at 929 N.W.
Flanders St.
B arbara A nn H art is a visual art curator and
agent for Horace Long Photography. She can be
reached at info@art2hart.com.
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