“That's a really good video. I like how you teach other people to care about the environment like you do.”
- Emily, 4th grade, Sycamore Creek Elementary School
ARTIST
STATEMENT
For over a decade now, I have been documenting the “stuff” of our society that we use once and throw away. Americans continue to create more garbage, per capita, than any other culture, yet we are blind to our waste. I believe this is a function of our wealth, and the vastness of our country. We have the room to hide our waste, and the money to make more. I collect many things, among them, bottle caps, credit cards, plastic bags, straws and lids, beach plastic and chop sticks. I use these everyday items to make work, which transforms the objects and surprises us. I am an environmentalist, receiving great joy from the natural world. This makes me aware of how we take what we have for granted. We are used to using “stuff” once and then throwing it away. We may throw it away, but my work makes me aware of its continual impact.
One of Bryant's specialties
is creating community art projects with
groups of children or adults. She will work with you to create
your own project designed for a specific event and/or group of participants,
or she will lead you in a project of her own design. Bryant also likes
to engage groups of students or adults in the making of her larger
environmental installations.
2012 - STREAMING: New Art From Old bottles, Gregg Museum of Art and Design, North Carolina State University, September 27-December 16
2012 - STUFF: Where does it come from and where is it going? Installations at the Turchin Center for the Arts, Appalachian Sate University, Boone, NC
2010 - “AGAIN AND NEVER AGAIN: Can we co-exist with ourselves?" Guilford College, Greensboro, NC
2010 - BLUESPHERE: EARTH ART EXPO, sponsored by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charseleston SC, College of Charleston, bottle cap mandala in Addleston Library
2009 - AWAY AND BACK AGAIN--an
installation in the UNC Global Fed X
building, Chapel Hill, NC
2008 - ARTISTS MAKE ALTARS Long View Center,
118 S. Person St., Raleigh, NC
2008 - 6th International Fiber Biennial, Snyderman
-Works Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, March
6-April, 2008, Curated by Brue Hoffman. www.snyderman-works.com
2008 - 2008 Fiber Biennial,
Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA,
March 6-April, 2008, curated by Bruce Hoffman
2007 - Parkway Show, Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC--Sept-Oct.
2006 - The EDGES OF GRACE: PROVOCATIVE, UNCOMMON CRAFT, Fuller Craft
Museum, Brockton, MA. Curated by Gail Brown.
Bryant is at work on her on going project: ADRIFT: What we cast away and where it goes. For more information on ways to contribute or participate please contact her at Bryant@bryantholsenbeck.com
Blackbirds, Bottle Caps, & Broken Records
DVD now available from RCWMS
She is available for consultations, lectures and workshops.
BIOGRAPHY
Bryant Holsenbeck began her arts career as a basket maker. Since that time she has evolved into an environmental artist who makes large-scale installations that document the waste stream of our society. She has shown her work and taught throughout the United States. She has been the recipient of 2 North Carolina Arts Council Fellowships, a Project Grant and an NEA Arts and Learning Grant that she worked on in collaboration with the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission. She is currently attempting to live one year with out disposable plastic and writing a blog about it entitled “THE LAST STRAW: A RELUCTANT YEAR WITHOUT DISPOSABLE PLASTIC.” Most recent past projects are STUFF: Where Does It Come From and Where Does It Go?, The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC and STREAMING: New Art Out of Old Bottles at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design. In both of these installations the artist worked with hundreds of students and the greater community.
She is a community artist who likes to work with groups of people to make large-scale installations using the “stuff” of our society. She is also an independent studio artist who makes books, birds, and sculptures out of recycled materials.
2009 - 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, Garth Johnson, pub 2009 by Quarry Books
2009 - BLACKBIRDS BOTTLE CAPS AND BROKEN RECORDS, Environmental artist
Bryant Holsenbeck at work, a film by Margaret Morales, produced by RCWMS,
Durham, NC
