My Work > Sculpture

I make the animals I see around me. They inspire me and give me hope. They are beautiful. They are survivors of our own human neglect and greed. I feel such gratitude for them.

I watch for animals all the time. Where I live, I can see birds, squirrels and rabbits in my yard. Occasionally a chipmunk appears. Mice love my backyard studio, especially in the winter when it is cold.   One sunny afternoon a few weeks ago, I noticed movement outside my studio window. Looking up, I saw a Coopers Hawk on the ground with something in its claws.  The hawk and I stared at each other for a minute or so and then in what seemed a single movement, a few small brown bird feathers floated down and the hawk was gone.  Slugs and mosquitos. Bats and rats. Raccoons. Earthworms, snakes, butterflies and dragonflies. And hope beyond hope, bees.

I feel fortunate that somehow despite it all a world of wild animals lives around me.  As we remove their natural habitats somehow these animals continue to live.   So far, with wild life, trees and forests, rivers and lakes, we human animals, together make up the precarious web that is our life.

“Bryant Holsenbeck creates enchanting animal forms from ‘discarded stuff’—old upholstery fabrics, cast-off yarn and string—that, refreshingly, are more wild and true-to-life than they are cute or cuddly. The artist is making a powerful statement about our shrinking relationship with nature, and about the impact of our throwaway culture; that she’s doing so with such intriguing, effectively wild pieces makes her work resonate all the more.”
— Danielle Maestretti, American Craft Council

Bryant’s work is represented in the following galleries:

• Blue Spiral 1, Ashevillle, NC
• Craven Allen Gallery, Durham, NC
• Piedmont Craftsmen, Winston-Salem, NC
• Main Street Gallery, Clayton, GA