ABOUT

Krista Mitchell is an artist and writer from Connecticut, USA. A senior at the University of Connecticut, she is currently pursuing dual degrees in Art and English with a concentration in Creative Writing, with an expected graduation date of December 2025. She is a Staff Artist at the Daily Campus, UConn’s campus newspaper, where she creates original comics about student life and collaborates with writing staff to design illustrations for articles.

Through her art and writing, Krista revives the aesthetics of the past through her own interpretation, exploring themes of nostalgia, abandonment, isolation, liminality, and consumerism. Her artistic craft is heavily influenced by the art movements, popular culture, and music of the 1920s-1980s, including art nouveau, art deco, mid-century design, pop art, psychedelic art, city pop, and vaporwave. While studying at UConn, she plans on pursuing art coursework related to illustration and animation, using her literary background to explore visual storytelling in various mediums including comics and children’s books.

EDUCATION

University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Bachelor of Arts, English with Creative Writing concentration, December 2025

Bachelor of Arts, Art, December 2025

AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS

2024 3rd place, Jennie Hackman Memorial Award for Short Fiction, UConn Creative Writing Program, for "The First Motel Off the Highway" (flash fiction)

2024 Honorable mention, Aetna Creative Nonfiction Award, UConn Creative Writing Program, for "How Sunlight Rests on Stone" (personal essay)

2023 Fine Arts Talent Scholarship, UConn School of Fine Arts

2022 Fine Arts Talent Scholarship, UConn School of Fine Arts

2022 Long River Review Art Award, UConn Creative Writing Program, for "Detour" (painting)

ART EXHIBITIONS

2023 20th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Storrs, CT, "Orbital" (illustration) and "Overdrive" (illustration) 

2022 How We Heal, Enfield Public Library, Enfield, CT, "Coming to Consciousness" (illustration) 

ART PUBLICATIONS

2024 WHUS Zine: What Are You Afraid Of?, WHUS Radio, "New Woman" (illustration)

2024 Long River Review, UConn Creative Writing Program, "Self-Portrait" (illustration) and "Pond of Fortune" (collage) 

2022 Long River Review, UConn Creative Writing Program, "Detour" (painting)

WRITING PUBLICATIONS

2024 Here: a poetry journal, Eastern Connecticut State University Department of English, "Spring Skiing" (poem)

2024 WHUS Zine: What Are You Afraid Of?, WHUS Radio, "Pilgrim" (poem)

2024 Long River Review (online), UConn Creative Writing Program, "The First Motel Off the Highway" (flash fiction)

2022 Poetic Journeys, UConn Creative Writing Program, "Silver Screens" (poem)

2022 Willimantic Writers Literary Magazine Volume II, Willimantic Writers Group, selection of poems

PRESENTATIONS

2024 Conversations on the Loneliness Epidemic, CT Collaborative to End Loneliness & UConn Humanities Institute, on "Home by Sundown" (photography)

2024 Humanities Undergraduate Research Symposium, UConn Humanities Institute, on "Home by Sundown" (photography)

2021 Long River Reading Series featured poet, UConn Creative Writing Program

ORGANIZATIONS

May 2024 - Present                          Stafford Historical Society: Museum Volunteer

January 2023 - Present                    UConn Daily Campus: Staff Artist

December 2023 - May 2024            UConn Long River Review: Arts Liaison, Poetry Panelist, Web Team 

February 2022 - January 2023        UConn Daily Campus: Contributing Artist

July 2021 - September 2022           Willimantic Writers Group: Member

October 2021 - May 2022               UConn Creative Writing Club: Secretary

Participant in the 2021 virtual Vermont Young Writers Conference (VYWC).