Jesse Lee Mitchell
Jesse Lee Mitchell was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee on September 18, 1958. His father was in the Navy and his mother worked very hard all her life at many jobs while he was away at sea. Jesse was the youngest of three children, with one sister and one brother. The family moved their mobile home frequently, living at each basewhere his father was stationed. At the age of eleven, Jesse's parents divorced. The family was split with his mother moving to Chicago and his father remarrying and moving to Taunton, Massachusetts. During the next few years Jesse began to run away from both parents and then from one to the other, catching rides and many colds, living outdoors for weeks at a time in winter or summer.
Jesse had found in himself a simple way to exist, and his need to explore and to create gave him much pleasure and inner peace. His formal education drifted, although he was a good student when in school. He has had a multitude of jobs from river boat deck hand to janitor and stable hand.
Jesse has painted and created such a variety of objects using many mediums including clay, paper, acrylic, pen and ink and found objects. Working since the age of three, he can recall riding on the cotton sack dragged by his grandmother as she picked cotton. His work is gaining recognition through national showings of his art.
Jesse often creates self-portraits and images of a real woman named Maria. Forever fascinated with the mystique of women, Jesse seeks to paint the women in his life as divine. Although many of these works may depict great sadness, he is quick to insist that life is sweet.
Jesse is now a divorced father of two sons. He lives next to a Mississippi River levee in Louisiana.
-- M. Zedlitz
Available Works
"Falling", permanent ink on paper, unframed 9" x 5.25", $175 (3419)
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