"A SMACK of Jellyfish"

A smack of jellyfish is a collective noun for a group of jellyfish. The term 'smack' comes from Old English and means "a little taste," "smattering," or "small portion." The letters of the word may mimic the motion of a smack when colliding with one another.

The installation is currently on view in Downtown Cary Park underneath the library bridge. 

 

About the Artist

Bryant Holsenbeck is a mixed media environmental artist, activist, educator, and author based in Durham, North Carolina. Holsenbeck uses a variety  of both natural and human-made materials to create art out of repurposed items that might otherwise be discarded. Her artwork includes wrapping and weaving techniques, wire sculpting, small animal sculptures, and large-scale installations. Examples of her work include small bird sculptures made with discarded materials and large waterfall installations made of plastic bottles.

Holsenbeck's environmental art conveys importance of wildlife, draws attention to ecological devastation and the abundance of plastic waste in the United States, and promotes environmental stewardship. 

"I make art inspired by the natural world made of cast offs of our society that I find everywhere I look."

 

(Left) Holsenbeck onsite with plastic debris before being repurposed into jellyfish. (Right) Holsenbeck posing next to her installation for the H20 exhibition at the Greenhill Center for the Arts. Photographer Barbara Tyroler. 

 

About the Installation 

Previously shown in Bond Park for Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival in 2024, this installation is currently featured at Downtown Cary Park underneath the library bridge and will be featured in GLOW 2025. Working with students, Holsenbeck used plastic debris from our waterways and oceans to make the large-scale environmental installation. With the help from teachers, art students and environmental students at Green Level High School and the Oceans Nicholes School of Environmental studies at Duke University, the unique installation showcases plastic material and rope debris from our waterways and oceans, repurposed into a smack of jellyfish floating overhead. It will be on view through March 2025.

(Left) Holsenbeck's Artist Residency at Green Level High School, Cary, NC. (Right) The completed installation featured in Bond Park for Spring Daze Arts & Crafts Festival 2024.