About Michael Mitchell

Michael draws every day. He's been at it since before he studied illustration at the Art Institute of Chicago. He has also studied architecture at The University of Chicago's AIA Design Center, and watercolor technique, advertising and design at The American Academy of Art.  He was a founding partner at Howell/Mitchell Design, before he moved to New York in pursuit of other opportunities over 30 years ago.

 Michael is an accredited Teaching Artist with Creative Art Works (CAW) in Manhattan, for whom he teaches emerging artists in schools around New York City. Michael has guided CAW's Youth Apprentices in the design and execution of public art commissions that can be seen at Shake Shack on 125th Street in Harlem, Citigroup Center in Midtown, Queensbridge Baby Park in Long Island City, the PS/IS137 gymnasium in Brooklyn, and the Bronx County Family Court lobby. As a muralist, he has created large-scale works for private clients in New York, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh and Honolulu.

 In addition to creating public works of art, Michael enjoys creating works of art in public. His "paper bag series" began as a lark when the owner of a popular nightclub in 1990's New York City asked him to draw portraits of club goers as an entertainment, and the only medium available was a bunch of brown paper bags found in the basement. They remain among Michael's most admired works. In addition, Michael was the artist in residence at Empire Autorama, a public display of classic cars at Dag Hammarskjold Park at the United Nations. Most recently, Michael participated in the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival in Palm Beach County Florida.

 As a freelance commercial artist with decades of successful service, Michael's work is well known amongst New York and Chicago advertising agencies. His portfolio includes works for J Walter Thompson, Grey Advertising, Sudler & Hennessey, GSW Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, Cline, Davis & Mann, FCB Healthcare and Harrison & Starr. He believes his reputation for being fast, versatile and professional is due to his abilities to communicate succinctly and take instruction well.

 Specializing in presentation storyboards, Michael says he tends to think like a director, and he brings that visual perspective to the frames. This enables him to both see his clients personal vision cinematically, and to creatively fill in the blanks where needed. He says, "I like my team to enter the boardroom feeling extremely well equipped. When armed with a compelling presentation, one immediately communicates to their client that the product is in good hands." Based in NY, Michael is available to work remotely.

 In addition to private collections, Michael's works can be found in the permanent collections of museums. In 2017, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art hosted a career retrospective of Michael's fine art and original magazine illustration at their Prince Street Project Space that included works on loan from their permanent collection.

 Michael is a contributor to VisualAIDS' "Postcards from the Edge" project, that supports the community of artists affected by HIV.

 Michael resides in East Harlem, New York City, and is a member of the Harlem Arts Collective (HART) whose mission is to use art and creative expression as a tool to engage, educate, unite, inspire, and empower the community of East Harlem. The Collective was formed when its founders realized that Harlem's unusually high concentration of artists largely worked outside of the community. Abandoned construction fences and barriers are a frequent substrate for HART's activities, making these works temporary in the style of Tibetan Mandalas. Their mural "Champions of Civil Rights" on 116th Street near 3rd Avenue was completed in 2017.

Michael likes to draw and design sports cars.