Kalil Mitchell creates transcendental abstractions that explore visionary themes of interconnection and transience through the interplay of light, space, and perception. Her luminous paintings hover between revelation and concealment, allowing the boundaries between form and formlessness to fluctuate as layers of tonal light and touch accumulate on the picture plane, opening relationships between space, shape, and color to create formal connections that dissolve discrete structures.

Mitchell graduated with an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2026 and earned her BFA in painting and pictorial arts from San Jose State University (CA) in 2021.

Artist CV

Education:

University of Wisconsin-Madison: MFA in Painting and Drawing. Fall 2023 - Spring 2026.

San Jose State University: BFA in Pictorial Arts, 2019 – 2021.

Cabrillo College: AA in Fine Arts, Art History, and Liberal Arts, 2016 – 2019.

Past Exhibitions:

Bright Obscurities: Paintings by Kalil Mitchell. MFA Thesis exhibition. Art Lofts Gallery. March 24th - 28th, 2026. Madison, WI.

All Tongue No Cheek: UW-Madison Graduate Student Exhibition. Backspace Gallery. November 19th - 23rd, 2025. Madison, WI.

Betwixt and Between: Paintings by Kalil Mitchell and Elise Boucher-Ostraff. Common Wealth Gallery. August 18th - 23rd, 2025. Madison, WI.

Look Both Ways: UW-Madison Graduate Student Exhibition. Art Lofts Gallery. August 25th - September 19th, 2025. Madison, WI.

Kalil Mitchell: Paintings. Big Happy Gallery. June 27th - August 2nd, 2025. Santa Fe, NM.

Seem Both Distant and So Close. Warbling Collective, group show. March 6th — 10th, 2025. 10 Greatorex Street, London UK.

Where Words Cannot Follow. MFA Qualifier Exhibition, Gallery 7. March 3rd — 8th, 2025. Madison, WI.

Group Show No. 2. Big Happy Gallery. Dec 13th — Jan 18th, 2024/25. Santa Fe, NM.

Echo // Ode. Group show, Backspace Gallery, 2024. Madison, WI.

A Grey Area. Group show, Art Lofts Gallery. Fall 2024. Madison, WI.

As Much as Humanly Possible. Group show, Art Lofts Gallery, UW-Madison, WI. Spring 2024.

Fruit by the Foot; a small paintings exhibition. Group show, Backspace Gallery, UW-Madison, WI. Fall 2023.

Emergence, or Coming Into Prominence. Group show, curated by Pajaro Valley Arts Council: Kalil Mitchell, et al, June 2023. Pajaro Valley Arts Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

Twinning Aufheben. Group show, curated by Jack Arthur Wood. Features: Kalil Mitchell, Jack Arthur Wood, Richard Tinkler, Bonnie Morano, et al, November 2022. Sweet Loraine Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.

A Brush of Inspiration. Annual juried member show, curated by Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society: Kalil Mitchell, et al, April 2022, Addison/Penzak Jewish Community Center, San Jose, CA.

Interbeing. Solo exhibition: Kalil Mitchell, November 1-5th 2021, SJSU Theta Belcher Gallery, CA.

Intuitive Origins. Solo exhibition: Kalil Mitchell, February 2020, SJSU Gallery 8, CA.

Block Party. Group show, curated by Lydia Harder, et al. July 2019, Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA.

Cabrillo 12x12. Community show: Kalil Mitchell, et al, October 2018, Cabrillo College Art Gallery, CA.

Awards:

UW-Madison Graduate Research Grant, Spring 2025.

Honorary Instructor Award, UW-Madison, Fall 2023. (Link to School of Education)

Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society, Champion Art Scholarship, 2021.

Cabrillo College, Frances Marie Morrow Memorial Art Endowed Scholarship, 2019.

Cabrillo College, Ralph Rapattoni Memorial Watercolor Endowed Scholarship, 2018.