| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Any resident of or visitor to Edmonton has experienced the powerful work of self-taught Edmonton-born sculptor Danek Mozdzenski, whether it be the sunset-gazing statue of the slain Constable Ezio Faraone, or the gentle likeness of a bench-seated Alberta Lieutenant Governor Lois Hole at the library that bears her name. His commissions dazzle public audiences and private collectors around the world, an all-the-more remarkable achievement because the painter and sculptor began supporting himself through his art at age 14.
After studying sculpture technology at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and drawing and sculpting at the University of Alberta (1967 – 1970), Mozdzenski continued his sculpture education at the Vancouver School of Art (1970 – 1971), the Academy of Fine Art in Krakow (1974 – 1976), and the Alberta College of Fine Art (1977 – 1979), before studying bronze casting at Red Deer College (1981). He combined his practical education with personal readings in physiology, history, North American ethnology, and paleontology.
Numerous public agencies and organisations have commissioned Mozdzenski to create sculptures, including the University of Alberta and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. His commissions have depicted remarkable personages including jazz musician Big Miller, pro-democracy activist Nellie McClung, writer Joseph Conrad, and astronomer Nicolas Copernicus; he may be best known in Edmonton for his Firefighters Memorial, the Ukrainian Centennial Monument at the Alberta Legislative Grounds, and the Constable Ezio Faraone Memorial Sculpture. His monument to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson stands on Parliament Hill.
Mozdzenski’s works live in a range of private, public, and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, England, Denmark, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, including those of Air Canada, Syncrude, Edmonton’s St. Joseph’s Basilica and Queen Elizabeth Planetarium, and the City of Edmonton. |