Artwork copyright Jeffry Mitchell. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Jeffry Mitchell. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Pattern Rabbits, 1993

Jeffry Mitchell
(American, born 1958)

Location: Pioneer Elementary, Vancouver

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Pattern Rabbits is part of artist Jeffry Mitchell's body of animal-themed artworks that portray the vulnerability of the natural world, executed with both irony and sincerity. He notes that this piece uses different printmaking materials and techniques to "express fragility, delicacy, and prissyness."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Evergreen School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Northwest artist Jeffry Mitchell calls himself a gay folk artist. He creates playful and joyous ceramic artworks and installations, as well as prints and drawings. His art explores ideas of gender, spirituality, vulnerability, and self-discovery. The artworks are relatable to our shared human experience -- they often look handmade and use familiar imagery such as animals and flowers. Clay is also a material that most of us have used in grade school or at some other time.

Jeffry Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (1980) in painting from the University of Dallas. He moved to Japan to teach English and stayed for three years, apprenticing with a traditional production potter and studying calligraphy. In 1988, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. In 2012, the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle organized a retrospective exhibition "Like a Valentine: The Art of Jeffry Mitchell".