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Western Washington University’s Department of Art & Art History will present a discussion with artist Mark Mitchell on April 26 at 5 p.m. in Fine Arts room 238.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Mitchell’s output comprises visual art, music, and theater. His current project, “Burial 2,” addresses issues of mass incarceration and prison reform – sculptures that are intended as a means to dismantle white supremacy. Combining fine dressmaking and millinery techniques with text, this hand-sewn work tells stories, mourns, and memorializes, often using tropes of funeral traditions. When completed, the group of a dozen or more sculptures will serve as an activating window into mass incarceration and its devastating effects.

Mitchell’s last major work, “Burial” – a performance and installation – was showcased in a solo exhibition at Seattle’s Frye Art Museum to critical and popular acclaim. In November 2016, “Burial” was presented in a solo exhibition in Beirut, Lebanon. In addition to recent group exhibitions, Mitchell’s recent residencies include The Vermont Studio Center, Creative Exchange Lab at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, and The New Foundation Seattle.  His work has been included in many group exhibitions and is found in both public and private collections.

While in Bellingham, Mitchell will also be speaking on April 29 at 3 p.m. at Pickford Film Center as part of the film series “Beauty, Brains and Know How, Screwball Comedy in the Glamour Age.”  He will be discussing gowns and costuming in the 1941 Preston Sturges film “The Lady Eve.”

Free parking for the �������� lecture is available after 4:30 p.m. in the lots marked C/CR and 12A at the south end of campus along Bill McDonald Parkway. Pay-by-the-hour parking is after 4:30 p.m. in the following lots: 6V, 11G, 17G, and 19G. For more parking information, please call (360) 650-2865 or visit cfpa.wwu.edu/go. For accommodations or assistance, please contact the disAbility Resource Center at (360) 650-3083.