About

Kate Sarah Mitchell is a practicing artist and teacher and currently has a studio in Saugerties, N.Y.  She served as Artist Fellow in Textiles and Surface Design for 2016 and 2017 at Peters Valley Craft Center, an internationally recognized center for traditional arts and crafts workshops in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Northwest New Jersey. She had intense and immersive natural dye experience in 2015 as Head Designer at Awamaki in Ollantaytambo, Peru, not far from Machu Picchu.  There she worked in capacity building and skill development with six women’s textile cooperatives in the rural Peruvian Highlands, serving the international fair trade market. Mitchell focuses on traditional textile processes, handcraft, and sustainability.  She recently began expanding her “fibers” practice into papermaking and printing. Her work has been exhibited in shows in New York City, throughout the Hudson Valley of New York, and in Layton N.J. She received the HGA Dendel Scholarship in 2014 and was a finalist for the Dorothy Waxman Textile Design Prize, 2015. She received the HGA Teach it Forward Grant in 2019 and in 2022 and 2023 she served as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts grants review board.

Mitchell teaches multiple-day classes in natural dyeing, fiber preparation, and hand spinning. She loves sharing her fiber knowledge with novices and teaches introductory courses in knitting, weaving, and designing locally to young and old.

Mitchell balances her work in Textile Design with a career in arts and non-profit management.  She has served as Executive Director at Fall Kill Creative Works managing 4 craft studios (print, textiles, ceramics, and storytelling), and has worked on projects in public history, environmental protection, and social justice.

Mitchell has an MA in Comparative Literature from Columbia University, a BA from Boston University and, more recently received an AAS degree in Textile Design from FIT. She is a kayaking enthusiast and is familiar with many waterways in the Hudson and Delaware Valleys.