With the arrival of spring, there is no better time for the Ackland Museum Store to debut its “Field Studies” exhibition produced by environmentalist artists Ann Marie Kennedy and Bryant Holsenbeck .
The display was named “Field Studies” as a way of acknowledging the artists' efforts to collect and gather from nature. Kennedy, a resident of Raleigh, and Holsenbeck, from Durham, used found and natural materials to create collaborative 3-D sculptures that connect to nature.
The two women met at the Penland School of Crafts in the N.C. mountains many years ago. Kennedy said their collaboration was a spontaneous happening, but that the two women have remained close ever since.
Kennedy said she came to the process of papermaking through her interest in materials found in the natural world. After 20 years of experience, she established a specialization in the various ways of working with paper pulp. The pulp she currently uses derives from hemp and abaca, a species of banana found in the Philippines, Equador and Costa Rica .
“I discovered working with paper as an undergrad,” Kennedy said. “I was immediately intrigued by making something directly out of plants.”
Kennedy creates everything by hand in a very process-oriented manner. For each piece, she begins by collecting plants which she then fashions into a wet pulp with a machine called a Hollander beater. As soon as the plant matter is set and preserved in a screen, the translucent paper shrinks as it dries.
“I tend to involve myself more by working with things from the natural world in a direct way,” she said.
Incorporating Kennedy’s paper into her own sculptural works of art, Holsenbeck has created a series of birds that are spreading their own environmental messages to viewers.
The animals are created using wire bases constructed by Holsenbeck, which are then covered by Kennedy's homemade paper.
