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Rhonda Gushee
Mother’s Nature
raku clay, raku fired and raku smoked
‘Mother’ is 26 x 12 x 10 inches, ‘Child’ is 8 x 4 x 2 inches
750
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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. Each work exists in its own semi-static state, much like a mini monument. Most recently, I have created a Torso series that emphasize the essence of each entity. They appear armor like, and at the same time open and vulnerable. The work involves plaster casting a variety of shapes and sizes, and then altering the form after the clay is pulled from the molds. When the piece is still red-hot out of the raku kiln, it is placed in various grasses and leaves to create striations and dark and light values as a result of the smoking fire. A natural shine is created as a result of the carbonization of this process. I find that all of these elements highlight contradictions such as humor and fear, beauty and decay, the antique and contemporary. (Cincinnati, OH)
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