Sculpture, Mixed Media
Residency Dates: March 2026
Studio H Canada is thrilled to welcome Kathy Bussert-Webb, a sculptor and multimedia visual artist from Seattle, Washington, USA. Kathy will complete a one-month residency at SHC in March 2025, culminating in a solo exhibition at Arc.Hive Gallery in Victoria, BC from March 27-29, 2026.
“An artist,” I replied when our elementary teachers had us say our future plans. In high school, I was achieving that goal as a political cartoonist for our city newspaper and then as a commercial artist for a design company. Yet I felt discouraged. I created several cartoons weekly, but the managing editor selected one a week with no explanation, and my design supervisor only criticized my art. “Your lines are too sketchy,” she’d exclaim. Although I received two art scholarships for college, regrettably I accepted that art discouragement and pursued academia instead, becoming a literacy professor because my other loves were reading and writing. Yet I was always an artist. This statement rang true during my last two years of university teaching. I had been auditing ceramics and sculpture classes, and my artist soul was trapped in a professor’s body.
So, when I retired from the University of Texas as a professor in 2020, I applied for an MFA in visual art and completed it in 2022. Nonfiction writers and poets impact my practice. I read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrassand was motivated by this indigenous botanist’s respect for flora and fauna. After reading her book, I immediately quit using any medium that might harm nature. Kimmerer and poets Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry observed the smallest details of our earth, which I find myself emulating when I forage for sculpture materials. Yet, I sought these writers because of my positive childhood experiences in nature; my mother, siblings, and I would often forage for mushrooms and berries, and I always helped in our summer garden. Additionally, I was a Peace Corps volunteer and beekeeper in rural Honduras, which further increased my affinity for nature.
Thus, I use wood, found objects, natural pigments, and recycled paper to create my expressionistic sculptures. I have developed apaper pulp technique to create a clay-like, recycled medium. Because I’ve run out of pedestals and tables to store my art, I use bas-relief often so I can hang some sculptures with D-rings and wire. (This is why some of my work is liminal, not quite 2Dor 3D.) Besides taking chances with betwixt and betweencategories, I research eco-friendly sculptural materials (hemp-crete, eggshell ceramics, mader or vegan leather, and aerated cement with volcanic ash. For my March 2026 artist residency and solo show in Victoria BC, I cannot bring flora in and out of Canada, so I’ve been developing earth-friendly alternatives to create nature-themed sculptures.
I’m also an assemblage artist because I like to repurpose materials and create art from refuse. Turning waste into art is a metaphor for how I’ve overcome traumas. I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, bullying, and kidnapping at gunpoint, so I seek peace, which I find by walking and respectfully foraging in nature. Wangechi Mutu, a Kenyan-born sculptor, has influenced my female sculptures. Like Mutu, I use found objects (such as 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 dreamlike assemblages and shadow boxes, but also because of his kindness. Cornell demonstrated much care for his brother with cerebral palsy. Like the artists I’ve discussed, I want to be generous to the earth and her inhabitants. I moved to Seattle almost two years ago and have finally found my people and place in the universe. In summary, my processes, materials, and themes focus on my environmental stewardship and care for my earth mother.
About the Artist
Dr. Kathy Bussert-Webb is a full-time multimedia artist at Equinox Studios in Georgetown, Seattle. Out of 150+ artists, Equinox chose Kathy as their artist of the month in November 2025. Kathy is a member of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Artists (PSGNWA), which featured an interview with Kathy about her art practice in their newsletter.
Kathy received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in studio art from UT-Rio Grande Valley in May 2022. She was a fellow at the Chautauqua School of Visual Arts (Chautauqua, NY), Azule (Hot Springs, NC), Art Farm (Marquette, NE), Elsewhere Studios (Paonia, CO), Joya Art+Ecology (Andalucía, Spain), Homestead National Historical Park (Beatrice, NE), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VE), and Mauser Eco House (Costa Rica).
Kathy has exhibited and won awards in several national juried and non-juried shows (including Yavapai College, Clarksdale, AR, and the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX). Kathy has participated in two international telephone games (one with her work included in a Base Camp (Seattle) exhibition of over 1300 artists), and the other with an upcoming exhibition with alumni from the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VE).
As an assemblage artist, Kathy has initiated socially engaged art experiences and workshops with families. She had pop-up installations at the Children’s Museum (Brownsville, TX, 2021) and the International Museum of Art and Science (McAllen, TX, 2022). Her solo shows include an MFA exhibition (Edinburg, TX), the Brownsville Art Hub, the Brownsville Performing Arts Academy, Mi Tierra Vegana (McAllen, TX), and Grand Central Bakery (Burien, WA).
Kathy published her art and accompanying poem and an article about her practice in national, peer-reviewed journals. She published two art reviews and a Jana Harper interview in Glasstire, a Texas art magazine. Kathy’s art has been featured in Texas newspapers. Kathy holds a Ph.D. in Language Education from Indiana University, Bloomington (1997) and has published over 50 academic manuscripts, including a book with Peter Lang Publishers. She’s Professor Emerita in UTRGV’s Bilingual and Literacy Studies Department and a Slemp Endowed Chair of Community Engagement.
Kathy is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer; she served as a teacher and beekeeper in Honduras. She was an English professor at the Universidad de Sevilla, Spain and is proficient in Spanish. She’s an avid hiker and has received three Compostela certificates for hiking over 500 miles on different Caminos de Santiago, Spain, in the last three years.
You can learn more about ARTIST on their website: https://www.3dbykathy.com/ and follow them on Instagram: 3dbykathy and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.bussertwebb
Artists of all media and disciplines are welcome to apply to Studio H Canada International Art Residency – please check out the link here to apply.
Check out previous posts about artists here.
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