Mo’s CV

Mo Orkiszewski CV

Born : USA 1955

Education : BA Visual Arts Sydney College of the Arts 1989
Certificate of Urban Horticulture Ryde TAFE 1993

Skills : illustrator, bookbinder, glass engraver, horticulturist

21st C Exhibitions :
Fairfarren 2022 Artsite Galleries Camperdown
Collectors Choice 2021 Artsite Galleries Camperdown
Collectors Choice 2020 Artsite Galleries Camperdown
Collectors Choice 2019 Artsite Galleries Camperdown
Urban EDGE Contemporary Art Prize Chrissie Cotter Gallery Camperdown
40 books for 40 years NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders Rozelle
I dream of a world where love is the answer 2019 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Crossing Boundaries: The Art of the Book 2019 Gualala Arts Center USA
Collectors Choice 2018 Artsite Galleries Sydney
All is not Black & White 2018 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Libris Awards 2018 Artspace Mackay
Collectors Choice 2017 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Packsaddle 2017 New England Regional Gallery
The GPS has no idea where I am going 2017 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Manly Library Artists Book Award 2017 Sydney
Code X: Australian Contemporary Bookbinders Exhibition 2017 Craft ACT Gallery Canberra
Collectors Choice 2016 Artsite Galleries Sydney
The illustrated lyrics of Old Man Crow limited edition book & CD launch 2016 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Collectors Choice 2015 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Collectors Choice 2014 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2014 Research Library AGNSW
Glebe Art Show 2014
Collectors Choice 2013 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2013 Research Library AGNSW
Glebe Art Show 2012
Library Bound: travelling exhibition 2012-2013 NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders
Salon Christmas Artsite Galleries Sydney 2011
Animal Instincts Glass Artists Gallery Sydney 2011
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2011 Research Library AGNSW 2011
BookOpolis and Capitol Works Show 2011 Asheville BookWorks USA
Glebe Art Show 2011
The Great Unknown: exhibition for un(der)represented Artists 2011 Artsite Galleries Sydney
Opus Artists Book Exhibition 2011 Artisan Books Melbourne
Sydney Royal Easter Show 2011 Bookbinding (First Prize)
NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders Exhibition 2011 Fisher Library Sydney University
JCA Steel Bookbinding Competition 2011 Leichhardt Library Sydney
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2010 Research Library AGNSW
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2008 Research Library AGNSW
Australian Bookbinders Exhibition 2007 Research Library AGNSW
Under the Cover 2006 Bookbinding Exhibitions Australia Sydney
NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders Exhibition 2004 Fisher Library Sydney University
NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders Exhibition 2003 Rozelle Writers Centre

Last Century:
Ranamok Glass Prize 1998
Glass Artists Gallery SCA graduate show 1989

Publications :
The illustrated Lyrics of Old Man Crow limited edition book and CD set illustrated by Mo Orkiszewski music and words by Rod Morgan launched at Artsite Gallery in September 2016.
1000 Artists Books – exploring the Book as Art by Sandra Salamony with Peter and Donna Thomas Quarry Books 2012
Moontime Diary 2012 & 2013 – Zodiac Illustrations by Mo written & published by Iris Detenhoff
The Artist’s Book Yearbook 2012-13 Impact Press University of the West of England
An illuminated Book of Cats illustrated and bound by Mo, words by Rod Morgan with musings by Ariel P Cat 2010 (limited edition of 17 books)
Cooking with Cats illustrated & bound by Mo, words by Rod Morgan with musing by Ariel P. Cat  2003 (limited edition of 77 books)
Celestial Times Diary 2000 Zodiac illustrations by Mo published by Steve Jolley (RIP)

Reviews:
Oz Arts Magazine Winter 2017 Old Man Crow artist Mo Orkiszewski musician Rod Morgan (pp. 56-63)
Oz Arts Magazine Autumn 2019 I dream of a world where love is the answer Mo Orkiszewski with local and international contributing artists (pp7-13)

Mo & Old Man Crow at the launch of The illustrated lyrics of Old Man Crow 2016

Artist’s Statement:

“The compelling thing about making art … is the moment when the vaporous, insubstantial idea becomes a solid there, a thing, a substance in a world of substances.”
Audrey Niffenegger ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ 2003 (p274)

Drawing underpins my work. The act of making a mark on the page catches fleeting thoughts and dreams, bringing understanding. Looking closely, noticing details, holding the experience, turning it around and slowly the thing comes into the light.

Then in responding to the material needs of the dream by working in series, making variations on the theme I take time to explore and craft the fine details whilst allowing space for the wild cards to make their move, those fleeting glimpses that call out from beyond the edges of the known into the wild space where the ragged edges of heart and mind blur and anything is possible. It’s here I find that thing I can make and hold in my hands to set free into the world.

I dream of a world where love is the answer
an exhibition exploring the powers of love and community By Mo Orkiszewski
with a worldwide circle of art and craft practitioners

Mo, Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith at the opening
Artsite Galleries Camperdown, Sydney
March 2-24 2019

e-mail: mocrow(at)iinet.net.au