Mo Kessler (they/them) is a queer Southern sculptor, installation artist, and community organizer.
Centering on the social and environmental landscape of Appalachia and the South, Mo’s artwork is focused on labor as both an action and a movement, working-class visibility, and the power of objects made by hand. This work ranges in medium and scale. Mo uses regional craft techniques and the transformation of used domestic materials as a means to investigate place, class, and the politics of disposability.
Education
2007, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore MD, Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Sculpture
2021, Western Carolina University Cullowhee NC, Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio Art
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2023 CHEAP WORTH, Frostburg State University, Frostburg MD
2022 Exercises in Dependency, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg SC
2020 Lapwork and Leftovers, Kitchenshop, Dillsboro NC
Two-Person Shows
2024 The Work of Remembering, Montgomery Building Gallery, Spartanburg SC
2021 Whatever Coming and Going Is, Revolve, Asheville NC
Group Shows
2024 Hard + Soft, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton TX
2022 Building Community, Building Power, Swords Into Ploughshares Gallery, Detroit MI
2021 NOVA Faculty Show, NVCC Woodbridge Gallery, Woodbridge VA
2021 Fiction of the Real, Ramp Space, Asheville NC
2021 WCU MFA Group Show, Tracey Morgan Gallery, Asheville NC
2021 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Western Carolina University Fine Arts Museum, Cullowhee NC
2020 Hope Is A Horizon, Revolve, Asheville NC
2020 Still Relevant, Happy Gallery Chicago, Chicago IL
2020 ArtFields, Lake City, SC
2019 Next Wave IV, Revolve, Asheville NC
2019 Appalachia Futures, West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
2019 STREET/ART, Push Gallery, Asheville NC
2019 SoundWave, Bascom Art Gallery, Highlands NC
2018 Rad and Unexpected, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2018 Queering The Mountains, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
Residencies
2024 Walkaway House, North Adams MA
2024 Mother’s Milk, Newton KS
2022 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT
Fellowships
2024 Walkaway House Tend Fellowship, North Adams MA
2023-2024 Watson-Brown Southern Studies Fellowship in Arts and Letters, Spartanburg SC
Public Practice Projects
2023-2024 The Work of Remembering Audio Tours. Created a public map and tour guide for 5 mills across the upstate of South Carolina that followed the connective actions of the Uprising of 1934, the largest textile strike in US history. Audio was made through the contributions of 21 artists, historians, labor organizers, and writers. Chapman Cultural Center and the Hub City Writers Project. Spartanburg SC.
2019-2021 No New Plastics, LIVLAB, Co-Organizer of creating a closed-loop recycling system on campus to take single-use plastics and turn them into materials to make functional ware and art objects. Western Carolina University
2020-2021 Watershed, LIVLAB, Co-Organizer of a series of performances, lectures, and studio visits conducted between Western Carolina University’s MFA and BFA students and professional regional artists. Western Carolina University
2019-2020 UKKU, Arts in Embassies, US Department of State permanent artwork commission for the US Embassy, Niamey, Niger, Western Carolina University School of Art and Design/Workingman Collective, Collaborating Artist for Courtyard Sculpture. $185K commission budget.
2018-2020 Du Quotidien, Arts in Embassies, US Department of State Commission for the US Embassy, Niamey, Niger, Abdou Moumouni University, Niamey Niger/Western Carolina University School of Art and Design/Workingman Collective Collaborating Artist for Interior Artwork Installation. $100K commission budget.
2019 Glue: Celebrating the Unseen Women of Appalachia, LIVLAB, Co-Organizer of a panel discussion and community engagement event through Z Smith Reynolds Inclusive Public Art Grant, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, NC.
2019 LIVLAB Town Halls 1 & 2, LIVLAB, Co-Organizer of community engagement event through the Z Smith Reynolds Inclusive Public Art Grant, Sylva, NC.
2019 Draw Sylva: Community Sketchbook Project, Collaborative Artist for city-wide sketch drawings collection and exhibition. Sylva, NC
Lectures and Public Engagements
2024 Grant Writing for Artists, Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg SC
2024 Grant Writing for Artists, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2024 Artist Talk, Converse University, Spartanburg SC
2023 Artist Talk, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2023 Artist Talk, Cheap Worth, Frostburg State University, Frostburg MD
2022 Workshop, Making with What You Have, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg SC
2022 Artist Talk, Exercises in Dependency, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg SC
2019 Artist Talk, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa NC
2019 Panel Moderator Glue: Celebrating the Unseen Women of Appalachia Cherokee NC
2019 Graduate Research Symposium, Presenter Art & Organizing: Expanding What is Possible through Changing the Frame, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2017 Harriet Elliott Lecture Series Panelist, Women in Greensboro: Communicating for Social Change, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro NC
Media Publications
2023 Artist Talk Magazine Issue 23
2022 Dinner Bell Magazine vol. 3
2021 God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise Zine
2020 Dinner Bell Magazine vol. 2
2020 Power Clash, “Remote Residencies with Mo Kessler of SiP Residency”
2020 Reject Collective, Issue 1
2019 Blueridge Public Radio, “Memories Appalachian Women Are Worth Preserving”
Awards
2026 Sondheim Art Prize, Semi-Finalist, Baltimore MD
2024 Tend Fellowship, Walkaway House, North Adams MA
2024 Mother’s Milk Scholarship, Mother’s Milk, Newton KS
2023 Southern Studies Fellowship, Watson Brown Foundation, Spartanburg SC
2021 Windgate University Fellows Scholarship, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg TN
2019 Windgate University Fellows Scholarship, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg TN
2018 Graduate Scholarship, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2003 Academic and Merit Scholarships, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore MD
Grants Received
2022 BG&E Small Business Grant, $20,000, Paradise Labs, Baltimore MD
2020 Graduate Summer Research Grant, $3,000, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2020 UNC Systems Undergraduate Research Grant, $12,000, LivLab, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2020 Campus Theme Grant, $1,000, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2019 WCU’s School of Art and Design’s Catalyst Grant, $5,500, LivLab, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2018 Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Inclusive Public Art Grant, $5,00, Semi-finalist, LivLab, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
Teaching
2024 Contemporary Art History, USC Upstate, Spartanburg SC
2022 Fundamentals of Design 2 – Adjunct Professor, NOVA Woodbridge, Woodbridge VA
2022 Drawing 1 – Adjunct Professor, NOVA Woodbridge, Woodbridge VA
2021 Fundamentals of Design 1 – Adjunct Professor, NOVA Woodbridge, Woodbridge VA
2020 3D Design – Instructor of Record, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2020 LIVLAB – Co-Instructor, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC
2019 Intro to Sculpture – Instructor of Record, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee NC