Kathy Bussert-Webb 3DbyKathy.com

“An artist,” I replied when teachers asked about my goal. By age 19, I was a political cartoonist for our city newspaper and an artist for a design company. Yet I felt discouraged in both jobs.  Although I received two college art scholarships, I pursued academia. Yet I was always an artist. This statement rang true in my final years of university teaching. I had been auditing ceramics and sculpture classes, and my artist soul felt trapped in a professor’s body. So, I retired from the University of Texas system as a literacy professor in 2020 and completed my MFA in 2022.

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My expressionistic assemblages focus on nature, gender, and healing from trauma using flora, found objects, natural pigments, and experimental eco-friendly materials. For example, I make a clay-like medium from paper pulp and I sew together dried kombucha scoby, a vegan leather. I often use bas-relief so I can hang sculptures with D-rings and wire. This liminal work (not quite 2D or 3D) fits my childhood, as I lived in two worlds. My mother was a Hungarian refugee and my father – a factory worker from Indiana. I never fit in and I experienced much trauma, but I found solace in nature by hunting mushrooms and berries, hiking, camping, and helping my family with our poultry and garden. Additionally, I was a Peace Corps volunteer and beekeeper in rural Honduras. My love of nature informs my practice. I read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and was motivated by this indigenous botanist’s respect for flora and fauna. After reading her book, I quit using any medium that might harm mother earth. Kimmerer observed the smallest details, which I find myself emulating.

 

I’m an assemblage artist because I like to repurpose materials and create art from refuse. Turning waste into art is a metaphor for overcoming trauma. Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan-born sculptor who also incorporates found objects, has influenced my sculptures. Like Mutu, I use branches and leaves and paper pulp. And like this Kenyan-born sculptor, I combine sculptures with collage and painting. Moreover, Mutu is a generous artist who promotes and supports African artists. Another influence is Joseph Cornell, not just because of his surrealistic assemblages and shadow boxes, but also due to his kindness. Cornell demonstrated much care for his brother with cerebral palsy. Like the people I’ve discussed, I strive to be generous. I also hope viewers can connect personally to my work, engage with it intellectually, find surprises as they keep looking, and reflect on broader issues related to gender, the environment, and inner healing.