OPENING MAY 16

 

BRYANT HOLSENBECK
Birds Among Us
May 16 – July 11

STATEMENT

A SHIMMER, A CHARM, A MURDER & MORE

Birds are everywhere: in the trees, along our streets and highways, on telephone poles, and in our woods and parks. Sometimes we see them singly, sometimes in groups. Almost everywhere, if we look closely, we will find them.

Whenever I look up and see them flying, I am grateful to be in this world with them. Where are they going? Where do they live and raise their young? These are questions I ask myself.

I make birds because I want to know them better.

This show is mostly about the birds I see in my backyard, along the Eno, at the coast, and in the mountains. Some stay here year-round, while others come and go. Some never change their colors, while others brighten each spring and summer.

I strive to make each bird as clearly as I see it. I use the detritus of society—plastic bags, bits of plastic, scraps of fabric—and transform it into these animals. I offer this reuse of material as an homage to them. Like birds building their nests, I pick up and discard until the right pieces come together to form each bird.

A parliament of owls,
A murmuration of starlings,
A congregation of plovers,
An exultation of larks,
A mischief of magpies,
A round, blush, or riot of robins,
A descent of woodpeckers,
A scold of blue jays,
A college, conclave, or Vatican of cardinals,
A fling of sandpipers,
A shimmer of hummingbirds,
A charm of goldfinches,
A murder of crows.

Birds. We name them and watch them as they live among us.

ABOUT BRYANT HOLSENBECK

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 and Australia. 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. In 2013 she was an artist in residence at Moulin à Nef in Auvillar France.
In 2010 she lived a full year without using single-use plastic. She continually uses what she learned in that year to make a smaller foot print on the environment. Her book, The Last Straw: A Continuing Quest for Life without Disposable Plastic, was published in the fall of 2018 and is available for purchase.

She is also an independent studio artist who makes books, birds, and other mostly animals sculptures out of recycled materials.