Rhonda Gushee

My figurative sculptures are investigations into how humans interact socially and within personal relationships. They are reconstructions of the emotional and intellectual mechanisms that people use to cope every day. My objective is to evoke memory narratives and psychological connections of our innate human nature.

Fictional self-portraits, myths and folk tales, animals, family and friends inspire my characters. Some of the figures emit various toy sounds when certain buttons are pushed, pulled or squeezed. The work involves taking apart found objects, combining human and creature forms. Tactile materials such as Raku clay and stitched fibers come together and become a hybrid of the old and new. I find that these elements highlight contradictions such as humor and fear, beauty and decay, the antique and contemporary.

© Rhonda Gushee