Woman from Guyana creating new art and carving out a niche in the Atlanta art scene.

Artistic Rejuventation

Woman from Guyana finds peace in painting

By her own admission, Shadé Mitchell-Orcel couldn’t sit still for a moment as a child. But she did find one activity that captured her attention long enough to force her into calm — art.

By Karen J. Rohr,

By her own admission, Shadé Mitchell-Orcel couldn’t sit still for a moment as a child. But she did find one activity that captured her attention long enough to force her into calm — art.

“That was my quiet time. I liked to be by myself and draw and color,” said Mitchell-Orcel, whose parents supported her artistic interest from the beginning.

“I used to draw and doodle on everything and it would drive my parents nuts, so they started giving me lots of paper and books. And I drew at a speedy rate. The more I drew, the more I loved it.”

Recently relocated from Toronto, Canada to Covington due to her husband’s employment, Mitchell-Orcel is a painter who prefers to work in acrylics but does use oils on occasion.

“I do mostly figurative drawing,” said Mitchell-Orcel whose current body of work includes several portraits. “I just started testing the waters with landscapes. I needed a challenge. I love the figurative work, the expression on people’s faces but I wanted to venture away from that and try something new, try to reflect the landscape and the natural environment.”

In a recent painting, Mitchell-Orcel depicted the small seaside community of “Carenage,” also the name of the work, where she spent summers visiting with her parents who live in the village, located in Grenada.

“It is very hilly and mountainous and very pretty,” said the artist.

Mitchell-Orcel is a native of Guyana, a country located on the northern coast of South America, known for its rainforests and Kaieteur Falls, the world’s largest single drop waterfall.

She doesn’t remember much of the country because, at age 12, Mitchell-Orcel left Guyana with her family as a political refugee. Her family found safe haven in Barbados for a few years and then settled in Toronto, where Mitchell-Orcel completed high school.

She then attended the Ontario College of Art and Design where she studied drawing, painting, graphic design and human anatomy. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from York University in Toronto.

Most of her non-art related professional background is in social work, and she has also taught art lessons to children.

“Meeting new people and moving has greatly defined who I am, but I often felt uprooted and displaced,” said Mitchell-Orcel in an entry on her Web page, www.artbyshade.com. “Drawing and painting allows me to rejuvenate on a creative level.”

Mitchell-Orcel has exhibited her work locally at the Gallery in Olde Town, but is searching for gallery space in Atlanta. She looks forward to creating new art and carving out a niche for herself in the Atlanta art scene.

“I still continue to enjoy long periods of uninterrupted sessions and find a great sense of inner peace from my art,” said Mitchell-Orcel on her site.