Cedar River Artisans

Marty Mitchell holds a BFA in painting from the University of Iowa and an MFA in painting from West Virginia University. She taught painting, drawing, art history and art appreciation for several colleges, including Fairmont State College, WV, Muskingum College, OH, and Adams State College, CO. For 15 years she maintained her studio and co-owned a gallery in Colorado, before returning to her home state, Iowa. She owns Ben & Flo’s, Fine Yarn, Fine Art and Other Finds, in Mount Vernon, where she has her studio and gallery. She continues to teach workshops and actively exhibits her work in regional and national shows.

Artist Statement

“Once, my paintings concentrated on the figure in autobiographical studies. I now focus that sense of autobiography within a landscape context. My work continues to explore questions about how we are acculturated and socialized, and therefore, how we view our environment as we are trained by society. I explore an idea that our socialization causes us to view that environment in very conditioned ways, gender and role-playing being significant factors. Women have traditionally been trained to experience their surroundings from a limited, or ‘bounded,’ perspective, ie: from the intimacy of home and garden, whereas men have traditionally been encouraged to view the space around them with the panoramic vision of ‘manifest destiny.’ In understanding this, I seek to contrast intimate and easily overlooked spaces with vast, deep spaces, creating opposition in and of view.