Kalil Mitchell is an MFA candidate and instructor at UW-Madison, WI. Her paintings explore transcendent phenomena, searching for oracular patterns and a quiet order in the sublime.

Mitchell graduated from San Jose State University in 2021 with a BFA in painting and pictorial arts. She grew up in a coastal town on the ancestral land of the Ohlone, Amah Mutsun and Awaswas peoples, in present day Santa Cruz, CA.

Following a natural curiosity in ecology and microbiology, while also developing an obsession with drawing and painting, Kalil eventually found her niche in undergraduate studies exploring the relationship between ecology, self, and spirituality within a pictorial practice.

She now researches the intersection of these topics as an MFA student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her work is currently based.

Works on paper available: Real Tinsel Flat File Index

Artist CV

Education:

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

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

Past Exhibitions:

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, UW-Madison, WI. March 3rd — 8th, 2025.

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

Echo // Ode. Group show, Backspace Gallery, UW-Madsion, WI. 2024.

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

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: 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.