Artist Workshop: Bryant Holsenbeck

Join artist, Bryant Holsenbeck - environmental and community-focused artist - as she leads a crow-making workshop with participants in preparation for her artist residency and large-scale art installation which will happen later this spring at Appalachian State University.

Bryant explains her inspirations and use of the crows:

Have you seen the crows? They are everywhere: on the telephone wires as I drive down West Club Boulevard in Durham, in yards, in fields, in the woods, in parking lots, and always by the side of the road. In groups and in pairs, they gather. Sometimes I hear them before I see them: a few stark and loud caws from a tree, or just somewhere in the distance. They are talking to each other. Like us, crows are social animals. They live in families connected to larger groups, they use tools, they play, and they store food. A wild species is living, loving, mating in our midst. They have learned to live all around us, yet they are wild and free.

I make crows. It began to dawn on me that I am drawn to making crows because they represent two values I hold sacred: freedom and community. As artists and humans we need both. ¹

Participants will use found “stuff” to begin creating their own birds and will have a few weeks to create their own contribution, which will have an opportunity to be included in the exhibition to be held in the Mayer Gallery at the Turchin Center.

The Turchin Center and the Catherine Smith Gallery will be supplying materials for participants, but all are encouraged to bring “stuff” to contribute or to use in their own designs. (Materials may include almost anything, such as old records, fabrics, plastics, tires, wire, beads, etc...) Participants may attend for the full workshop or just drop in and watch. This workshop will be held prior to the evening lecture at the Turchin Center.

Learn more about her work by viewing the Vimeo video trailer Blackbirds, Bottle Caps, and Broken Records.

¹ Holsenbeck, Bryant. "Crows." South of the Garden 29:4 (Dec. 2008). Bryant Holsenbeck. Bryant Holsenbeck. Web. 1 Jan. 2012. < http://www.bryantholsenbeck.com/about.html#PRESS >.