Clifford Mitchell: Architect, Artist, and Teacher

Clifford Mitchell, an African-American architect and artist who was born in Alabama, spent most of his life in Hartford and West Hartford. He graduated cum laude from Hartford Art School in 1958 and began winning prizes at regional art exhibitions in 1959. He had at least 15 one-man shows over the course of his career, and continued to win awards and exhibit at national and regional shows. He was one of the first black men in Connecticut to become a registered architect and was responsible for the design, production, and management of architectural projects including the University of Hartford Residential Campus, the School of Engineering Building for the University of Connecticut, and Berol Corporation Office Building in Danbury. His art work is in many public, private, and corporate collections in Connecticut and across the country, including those of The New Britain Museum of American Art, the Stamford Museum & Nature Center, and the Mattatuck Museum. In 2011, Mitchell’s daughter, Brenda Mitchell-Powell, donated a large collection documenting her father’s work to the Connecticut Historical Society.