Mike Mitchell
Mike Mitchell is an artist and though he holds a master’s of fine arts in sculpture from the University of Memphis, his preferred medium is people. He makes his living shaping lives. Mitchell is the program director for the Organization of United Resources (OUR), a community coalition that serves the rural communities of southern St. Johns County. The OUR Center offers everything from GED classes and tutoring to emergency food and clothing to substance abuse referrals. Whether the goal is teaching kids math or helping adults find a way to support themselves, Mitchell believes art is a tool that can help people sculpt a better life. This summer the center is hosting the Hastings Summer Blues Camp. A total of 115 kids will learn music from blues musicians and before the end of camp, the kids will compose their own music on their own harmonicas — provided free by the center.
What brought you from the MFA program at Memphis to the OUR program in rural St. Johns County?
I had always wanted to be a college professor. I’d been in school since I was 5 years old. A couple of years ago I decided it wasn’t for me. My wife and I had honeymooned in St. Augustine, so we just decided to move here and live on the beach. I learned this job was available. I like working with kids and it looked like something I could do, so I took it.
What does the OUR Center do?
We’re kind of a one-stop-shop. We provide food and clothes for people that need them. AmeriCorps is out here as part of the St. Johns Reads program. We’ve got the Betty Griffin House … We just started teaching private lessons on guitar, and we’ve got students from 8 years old to 70.
Joyce White is one of your success stories. She will soon have a showing at a gallery in St. Augustine but before Jan. 2, she’d never painted anything, is that right?
She had no idea that she could paint; she’d always been a farm worker. And now she paints every day. She’s learned that everything doesn’t have to fit in. Art has turned her life around.
What inspired the blues camp?
We wanted to use blues music to talk about art. You can use music to teach all kinds of things. You can use it to teach math, and have fun doing it. I did a deal at the American Legion in West Augustine where we focused on Muddy Waters, and we played a lot of the old standards. A lot of those old songs have a call and response, and the kids spontaneously started calling it back. In 1960, four of the top 10 songs were the blues, so I thought we could use this music as a way for kids to connect to older people in the community. Willie Green has played around here a lot, and I knew his manager lived just down the road in Armstrong, so I thought we might be able to get him, and we got Grandpa’s Music to sell us the harmonicas at cost.
Do you have the blues?
Everybody’s got the blues.
— MARK PETTUS
