DAN MILLS Download Biography

Biography

Dan Mills (b. 1956, Waterloo, New York) had concurrent parallel careers for many years, as an acclaimed painter and mixed media artist and influential curator and academic museum director. Each has been enhanced by the other; his adventuresome curatorial perspective is shaped by the insights of a practicing artist, and his artistic practice has been enriched by the rigors of curating. Mills turned his attention to his studio practice in 2024. In 2019, he had a solo museum exhibition originating at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, which traveled to the Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire; and Herron Galleries, Herron School of Art + Design, Indianapolis in 2020. He Has had solo exhibitions at institutions including Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston (2021); George Billis Gallery, New York (2014); Chicago Cultural Center (2012); Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago (2012, 2007); Mandeville Gallery, Union College (2010); Williams Center Art Gallery, Lafayette College (2010); Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum, China (2009-10); Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica (2009); UT Downtown Gallery, University of Tennessee (2008); and Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Chicago (2002).

Work by Mills has been curated into notable group exhibitions including: Counter Cartographies: Living the Land, Anchorage Museum, Alaska (2021-22); Unsustainable: Planet in Crisis, Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture, University of Tennessee (2020); Crooked Data: (Mis)Information in Contemporary Art, University of Richmond Museums (2017); Ideologue, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City (2016); Dissident Futures, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2013-14); Lines in the Earth: Maps, Power, and the Imagination, Sun Valley Center for the Arts (2007); Long March: Yan'an Project Retrospective, Long March Space, Factory 798, Beijing (2007); What War?, White Box, New York (2006); and Misleading Trails, which opened in Beijing then traveled to eight US colleges (2004-06). 

Mills is a frequent visiting artist, critic, curator, and speaker. His work is found in collections including: the British Library, London; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago; JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, New York; Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine; University of Richmond Museums, and academic institutions throughout the U.S. He lives and works in Maine.