In April 2023, every Art 1 student at Green Level High School created a vibrant 4' (1m) jellyfish out of marine rope and monofilament (fishing line) reclaimed from the Atlantic. The 100-plus giant jellyfish sculptures filled three cars before being installed more than 40' (12 m) in the air over roadways in one of our local parks. When hundreds of visitors arrived for the town’s art festival, they were greeted with a “smack,” which is what a group of jellyfish is called.
Left: Artist and retired art teacher Bryant Holsenbeck takes a stroll through the finished installation. Right: Students created the jellyfish from marine rope and fishing line reclaimed from the Atlantic.A closeup shot of the outdoor jellyfish installation at the Bond Park Spring Daze Art Festival.The sculptures that were returned to the school after the festival got a second life in a well-lit stairwell.Ethan S., Madeline L., and Kashika P. with jellyfish.
Project Inception
This amazing opportunity evolved organically while chatting over breakfast. Bryant Holsenbeck, an artist and retired art teacher, was receiving a Friend of the Arts award at the North Carolina Art Education Association’s annual convention. I sat between her and another Friend of the Arts award recipient, Denise Dickens, the Public Art Program and Exhibition Supervisor for parks and recreation for our town. It was kismet. I eagerly absorbed Holsenbeck’s pitch for a town public art installation involving the creation and exhibition of upcycled jellyfish made from reclaimed ocean pollutants. After receiving support from the Parks and Recreation Department, all Holsenbeck needed was a workforce of about a hundred students, which I was happy to provide.
Holsenbeck is passionate about art and the environment. She began her career as a basket maker and pivoted to installation and sculpture using found materials. In her own words, “I make art inspired by the natural world using the cast-offs of our society that I find everywhere I look.” Holsenbeck once pledged to not use single-use plastic for an entire year and embarked on a “plastic fast” (see Resources).
Learning from the Artist
Six months after our meeting, Holsenbeck arrived at my school with giant bags of material. She went through all three of the art teachers’ beginning art classes showing how to create colorful stable forms using what she found in the ocean. She shared samples of her work and explained her sculpture process. Holsenbeck has created many collaborative works and installations and has vast experience working with kids. It was the easiest collaboration I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on.
Holsenbeck had a vision for the installation and had already collected massive amounts of sculpture material from Maine and the North Carolina coast. She had also already done a maquette installation of jellyfish at a Duke facility in Durham. She knew our installation would have a big impact in a different location: the Bond Park Spring Daze Art Festival. Collaboration was expanded to include our student Environmental Club, who offered to create display boards and share information on ocean pollutants.
Making the Jellyfish
I recommend scheduling a guest artist between the middle and end of the year because classroom norms have been established, and students may be ready for a new voice and perspective. By this point, students were familiar with some of the design principles addressed in this project, such as color theory, texture, and form. We had done a lot of 2D work, so this shift to 3D was very refreshing.
Holsenbeck demonstrated the armature building method and process in which the looped stiff marine rope became both a support and the textured tentacles of the jellyfish. The rope armature was secured with a zip tie, and the monofilament was compressed and tied around the edges with yarn.
Students made their own choices for color schemes, texture, contrast, and other added elements such as yarn and beads. The learning curve was simple enough that students could engage immediately, and it only took two days to complete the project. The promise of a massive public display and exposure motivated students to put forth their best efforts.
Assessment Criteria
The last step before installation was for the students to each photograph their jellyfish sculptures on a neutral background. Since the works would be transported, hung in the air, and had to endure the weather, it was important to get a clear photo for grading. My criteria for grading the sculptures included the following:
Is the sculpture structurally sound? (Since the works would be installed outside, they had to hold up to the elements.)
Is there a cohesive vision? Are color, texture, and contrast in harmony? (We held the works up to the windows to see what they looked like from below. The works were transformed by adding the element of light.)
Is the work balanced? (The sculptures needed to be symmetrical or they wouldn’t hang well.)
Final Install
After the weekend installation at the art festival, the Town of Cary took down our jellyfish and several were returned to the school (some students wanted them back, and some were willing to let them be used in other works of art or installations). The two dozen or so that came back to school got a second life in a well-lit glass and metal stairwell. It was a great homecoming installation and served as continued advocacy for the arts, environmentalism, and collaboration with the community.
On Collaboration
The ultimate goal of good teaching is to engage as many students as possible, connect with the community, and integrate with other subjects. Collaboration also prepares young artists to function in the art world after school. I know this firsthand as a working artist.
While my students were creating the jellyfish sculptures, I was finishing up a collaborative duo show called Tarot Garden, which consisted of my oil paintings paired with photographs taken by a colleague to be displayed at a local gallery. I created paintings using his photographs as reference, and he included some of my paintings in his photographs. We shared titles and critiqued each other frequently. This back-and-forth partnership helped both of us push our work further and create exciting pieces that we never would have done if we had been working solo.
All artists have to work together and support one another; no one is an island. Learning to collaborate artistically at a young age in a project like our Smack! Jellyfish project paves the way for future successes.
Trish Klenow teaches art at Green Level High School in Cary, North Carolina. You can see more of her and her students’ work on Instagram: @TrishKlenow
National Standard
Presenting: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
This issue highlights several ways in which art teachers have integrated collaboration into their teaching practice, such as providing students with opportunities to problem-solve and work together throughout the year, learning about the Sustainable Development Goals and creating a tile installation symbolizing them, inviting a local florist to teach an art lesson, collaborating with an artist to create an outdoor installation using materials reclaimed from the ocean, and more.
