Kathleen Mitchell
“I can walk into a glassblowing studio anywhere in the world and know how to communicate. Glass is a visual language. It could be a nod or a gesture and you know your job.”
Artist Statement
I make things, I always have. And like many other object makers, I am a collector of things, an assembler, an arranger.
The techniques I employ to make my work are fraught with danger. Molten or sharp; glass and metal can burn you, cut you, scar you. The physical aspect of working, the sweat, the dance, the communion with your partner or your team...it’s earthy and difficult. I like that.
Artist Bio
Kathleen Mitchell was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina into a family that relocated frequently during her first 9 years. A lifelong maker of art, it has been said that her stegosaurus sculpture at the age of 6 was the best piece of pinched clay in all of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
In 1967 her family settled in the multicultural city of San Diego, California. Mexican folk-art, her proud Celtic heritage, and issues involving social justice inform her assemblage work. And sometimes she just wants to blow beautiful glass.
