AU Eide/Dalrymple Gallery Presents ‘Flower and Flame’

Pictured Above: Deborah Mitchell, "Through a Lens Darkly," three shadow boxes with lenses with fire scale that survived the fire intact

The Augustana University Eide/Dalrymple Gallery presents "Flower and Flame," a powerful exhibition by artist Deborah Mitchell - on view through April 23. Free and open to the public, a reception for "Flower and Flame" will take place in the Center for Visual Arts on Friday, March 27, from 7-9 p.m., with an artist talk at 7:30 p.m.

Mitchell's body of work transforms destruction into a meditation on resilience, memory and creative rebirth following a devastating studio fire in December 2020. In the early hours of Dec. 6, 2020, the artist's studio was destroyed by an act of arson. Awakened by an explosion caused by her motorcycle's gas tank, she witnessed flames reaching 30 feet high, consuming decades of work, tools and collected materials. Yet, from the wreckage emerged an unexpected source of inspiration.

"It was as though I was given a choice: create or cry," Mitchell reflected. "I did my share of crying, but I also got to work."

In the days following the fire, Mitchell began to see possibilities within the ruins. Familiar objects, altered by heat and collapse, took on new forms - what she describes as "strange shapes" that revealed themselves as transformed remnants of her former studio life.

Mitchell, who has spent her career working with discarded artifacts and found materials, recognized the site as "the ultimate cache of assemblage materials." She salvaged what she could - books, heirlooms, photographs and fragments of past work - holding onto their potential for future creation. These materials became the foundation for "Flower and Flame" - a series that embraces both the fragility and endurance of physical matter and human experience.

Mitchell holds a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Utah State University, where she studied under Moishe Smith and later interned in Paper Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York. She served as curator of the Missoula Museum of the Arts (1989-95) and later as professor of art history and drawing, as well as director of the Apex Gallery at South Dakota Mines until her retirement in 2018. From 2022-24, she returned to campus as artist-in-residence in metallurgy and material science.

"Flowers and Flame" is funded in part by the Augustana Mellon Fund and South Dakota Arts Council.

About the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery

As a part of Augustana University, the mission of the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is to contribute to the educational and cultural vitality of the university, surrounding community and state of South Dakota. The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery inspires the artists of today and tomorrow, and serves as a resource for teaching and promoting life-long learning through its permanent collection and temporary exhibition program with accompanying artist visits, gallery talks and educational materials.

The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is named after Palmer Eide and Ogden Dalrymple, pioneering Augustana professors emeriti of art. Many of their collaborative works are spread throughout the campus.

The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is located at 30th Street and Grange Avenue, in the Center for Visual Arts at Augustana. The gallery is open to the public and free of charge. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturdays, from 1-4 p.m.