Kathy Bussert-Webb,PhD,MFA
 3DbyKathy.com

My practice explores nature as witness, healer, and teacher. I sculpt from humble and organic materials—flora, thrifted treasures, natural pigments, paper pulp, and experimental materials. I alter overlooked objects into forms that speak to loss, resilience, belonging, and renewal.

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Drawing from Arte Povera and ecological art, I favor materials with histories and imperfections. I experiment with processes rather than impose fixed outcomes: sewing dried kombucha SCOBY, building bas-relief, and combining sculpture with collage and painting. These materials carry evidence of change. Their vulnerability mirrors mine.

Nature has been my refuge. As a child, I felt like an outsider and found belonging outdoors – hunting mushrooms and berries, gardening, camping, and tending poultry. My Hungarian mother, a resourceful refugee, taught me to improvise. That ethic continues in my studio: respectfully use what exists, waste little, transform much.

My work also reflects a personal movement from trauma toward healing. White and black evoke rebirth, while light and shadow suggest uncertainty, mortality, and renewal. Natural forms and animal imagery become metaphors for protection, separation, and resilience.

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Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writing deepened my awareness of human-nature reciprocity. Wangechi Mutu and Joseph Cornell influenced my use of found objects, assemblage, and surreal imagery. Yet my work grows from a personal conviction: nature has my back. I invite viewers to look slowly, discover the unexpected, and consider nature as witness and healer.