Most artists aspire to the goals of permanence and recognition, but sculptor Brian Rust takes a very different view. His temporary site installations, created from clay and cement, celebrate the natural processes of decay and erosion. Raised in a nature-loving, artistic family in Washington state, Rust has a reverence for natural materials and a curiosity about history and the world around him that is reflected across the media in which he works. In addition to installations, Rust is also known for his working drawings – a term he applies to collages, which are in fact finished pieces created as he plays with ideas for sculptures and installations.

Rust has been an art professor at Augusta State University since the early 1990s, teaching a variety of classes. He thrives on the blend of teaching and creating and finds inspiration for his work everywhere he looks in his adopted Southern home.

Rust's installations can be found at the Henry Lay Sculpture Park in Louisiana, Missouri; the South Carolina Botanical Garden in Clemson, South Carolina; Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia, New York; Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan; the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee; and the Mid-Columbia Arts Center in Kennewick, Washington. Working drawings are in private collections, at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, MOCA in Atlanta, and at the Mary Pauline Gallery in Augusta.