Biography

Dan Mills had a solo museum exhibition, Human Topographies, which originated at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland in 2019, and 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); Montserrat College Art Galleries, Massachusetts (2015); George Billis Gallery, New York (2014); Chicago Cultural Center (2012); Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago (2012, 2007); Williams Center Art Gallery, Lafayette College (2010); Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Museum, China (2009-10); Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica (2009); and UT Downtown Gallery, University of Tennessee (2008).

Work by Mills has been curated into notable group exhibitions including: Seeing Truth: Art, Science, Museums, and Making Knowledge, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut (2023); 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); Pop Goes the World, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York (2010); Party Headquarters: Voting is Just the Beginning, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York (2008); Lines in the Earth: Maps, Power, and the Imagination, Sun Valley Museum of Art, Idaho (2007); What War?, White Box, New York (2006); and Misleading Trails, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing, then traveled the US (2004-06).

Mills is a frequent visiting artist, critic, curator, and speaker. His work is in collections including: the British Library, London; JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago; the ‘Quin House, Boston; Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine; University of Illinois, and other academic institutions throughout the U.S.

Prior to focusing on his studio practice, Mills (b. 1956) had concurrent parallel careers as an artist and curator in Chicago from 1981-94, then as an artist and academic museum director/curator in the Northeast for thirty years. His adventuresome curatorial projects traveled to over fifty institutions. Mills lives and works in the Lakes & Mountains region of Maine and also outer Cape Cod.