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Slideshow: Whimsical And Wild With Artist Don Mitchell

Some artists work on canvas and have their art displayed in a gallery. Colorado sculpture artist Don Mitchell frames his work in the great outdoors.

Mitchell’s towering, colorful aluminum sculptures are up to 20 feet tall and can be seen up and down the Front Range.

Deploying bright colors and usual shapes, Mitchell's work evokes the styles of both the children's book author Dr. Seuss and mobile artist Alexander Calder. During a recent visit to his studio, he shared some work-in-progress, and a number of the smaller pieces he has created.

Credit Don Mitchell

Mitchell has no formal arts training. Instead, a career in engineering and manufacturing led to him to start tinkering with wooden sculptures in the mid 1980s. By 1992, he had switched to metal and has continued the work full-time.

His work for both corporate and public art commissions is installed at a variety of places in Colorado including Fort Collins, Longmont, and Boulder, as well as eight other states.

Arts District is a collaboration of KUNC, Rocky Mountain PBS and KUVO.

A native of Stamford, VT, I call(ed) the Berkshires of western Massachusetts my home. The Berkshires are a culturally rich area -- I’m talking pass the butter and heavy cream -- rich.
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