Small Pink Tyrannosaurus Rex 2013

Sometime back we featured Brett Kern's mindblowing ceramic sculptures that look like inflatable balloon toys on our blog.

There's no denying that Brett is one talented artist who knows his business right.

Brett was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He enrolled at the California University of Pennsylvania in 2003 as a Graphic Design Major. One year into college, Brett discovered his love for clay and shifted his focus to ceramics. He graduated in the spring of 2007 from CALU with a Bachelors in Fine Arts. In 2010, he completed his Masters in Fine Arts from the West Virginia University in ceramics.

After graduating from WVU, Brett was awarded a long term Artist-In-Residence position at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana.

In 2011, Brett moved back to West Virginia, continued making wonderful ceramic sculptures that look like inflatable balloons toys like dinosaurs, astronauts, etc. and when not working Brett is teaching at the Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia.

To know more about Brett and his whimsical ceramic sculptures read on our exclusive interview with him.

Happy reading!

1. Hello Brett, please introduce yourself to our readers.

I live in Elkins, West Virginia. I've studied and taught ceramics for the last ten years. In addition to being a working artist, I am currently an adjunct professor at Davis & Elkins College. I love dinosaurs, movies, TV, toys and my art is a product of my affection and obsession with these things. I've seen Jurassic Park more times than anyone you've met.

2. What got you into the world of art? Did you specifically study for it? 

I've always tinkered and built things with my hands. I never made a conscious decision to be an artist. Making art was just something I always loved doing and I could never sit still or concentrate while doing anything else. I went to college to be a graphic designer but took a pottery class my second semester. I got hooked on clay. I received my BFA in ceramics from California University of Pennsylvania and my MFA in ceramics from West Virginia University.

3. What's with your fascination for ceramics and clay? Have you ever thought of experimenting with any other medium?

Clay is just such an amazing material. It has such a rich dichotomy that can add layers and layers of meaning and interpretation to any given piece. It's flexible but sturdy, fragile but permanent and cheap even though the end product is valuable.

There is also such a long and interesting history of clay that is an honor to be a part of.

I think about working with metal and plastics all the time but haven't come up with anything that demands those materials yet. If I thought of an idea I really liked and felt it needed to be something other than clay, I would learn how to do it and make the piece. Right now most of my thinking is clay-related.

4. Why did you decide to use ceramics to create the illusion of inflatable balloon toys? These toys would be pretty heavy for the illusion of being a inflatable balloon toy?

The reason for making art based on inflatable dinosaurs stems from my childhood. The earliest memory I have is of receiving an inflatable dinosaur as a child at the age of 2½ years. Pictures pop up all the time when sorting through scrapbooks of a young me with inflatable dinosaurs. For me, they are a symbol of my youth that has endured as I've aged. My goal is to represent them as lasting valuable object and to use molds as a way of capturing and fossilizing this symbol from my childhood.

Brett And His Inflatable Balloon Toy

Astronaut 2013

Large Red Tyrannosaurus Rex 2013

Small Purple Triceratops 2013

I use plaster to make a mold of an object. Some of the objects are things I found or purchased and some are things I've sculpted. After the mold is made and dried, I fill the mold with clay casting slip… It's basically just liquid clay. The mold dries the casting slip that is touching the plaster surface and creates a clay shell. After enough time has passed, the remaining liquid slip is poured out of the mold leaving just the hard clay shell. After all the parts are cast, I have to assemble them using the slip as glue. The pieces then get fired so that they become rigid enough for me to glaze. I spray the glaze on most pieces because it gives me a smooth surface. The glazed pieces get fired again to melt and fuse the glaze to the clay. Then they get fired once more after gold luster is applied.

Pouring Casting Slip Into A Mold

Removing Large Rex Body From Mold

Cleaning Up Air Valve Cast

Assembling Small T-Rex

Applying Gold Luster To Air Valve

Making the mold is the hardest and most time-consuming part. Some pieces, like the Astronaut, consist of many molds and probably represent about 12 hours of work. After the mold is made, casting and assembling usually don't take very long. It varies, but a large piece may take 3 total hours to finish while a small dinosaur can be 20 minutes… if I'm in the zone. It's hard to gauge the TOTAL time spent on each piece though cause there are just so many processes and I work on several at a time.

7. Why do you sell only from your Etsy shop? You can use a shopping cart software to sell from your own website, thereby maximizing revenue.

I just really like the social media-component of etsy. I think it has been important that people can "favorite" my shop and follow me. It seems like this helps everyone stay up to date with my store and then know when items get posted. Users can "like" my work and people who follow them can get exposed to my work through that.

8. How do you promote your work? What do you think is a good mixture of offline and online promotion? What is your view on word-of-mouth promotion?

Most of my promotion happens online through social media outlets. I post pretty regularly on Instagram (brettkernart) facebook (https://www.facebook.com/brettkernart) and twitter (brettkernart) I do show work in various galleries throughout the country and I try to have shows when I can. I think this has achieved a pretty good mix of allowing people to see my work in person while at the same time being able to view behind the scenes images and more personal stuff. I really like social media because it's relatively easy to start forming online relationships with collectors you'd never be able to meet otherwise.

Local Color 2011

Ring Finger 2013

The best compliment is always someone buying the work. It's a commitment that says a lot. They're showing me that they want my art to be a part of their day but also that they're investing in my future and me.

I've had some artists I greatly admire ask to trade work with me. I cherish those moments.

10. Now to a personal question - When you are not working on your artwork how do you like to spend your spare time? What do you find most revitalizing?

Because I'm a college professor, making art IS what I do in my spare time. It's fun! I get to listen to music and audiobooks while playing with dinosaurs. I think making art is actually what revitalizes my teaching career.

If there's any left over spare time, I like watching movies and traveling and going to museums. There are a lot of dinosaur bones out there I still need to see.

11. What other artists do you look up to? If you could peek into the studio/toolbox of one other artist who would it be? Would you like to collaborate on a project with any other artist?

Because of my pottery and clay training, a lot of contemporary potters and clay sculptors are my favorite artists. I like really tight and well-crafted work. Doug Peltzman, Adam Field, Kristen Keiffer, Jeremy Brooks, Jeremy Hatch (to name a small few.) I can't stop admiring their work. Since the comparison get's made, I'll mention Jeff Koons. I enjoy some of his work but I think my use of inflatables is a case of convergent evolution rather than any kind of emulation. It's my childhood and my ceramics training that has led to the work I make now.

There are many artist studios I'd like to see but recently I've been thinking about Richard Notkin a lot. I'd love to be able to watch him make molds. His work is amazing and everything is so tight and clean. I could stand to pick up a few pointers from him.

I actually collaborate often. http://haypeep.tumblr.com Sage Perrott has drawn images for my work before. She did the illustration on the whoopee cushions. I also collaborated with Justin Rothshank and a series of dinosaurs http://brettkernart.com/justin-rothshank-dinosaur-collaboration/

12. What are your future plans as an artist?

I'm going to keep teaching. I also have plans for a few long-term pieces as a change of pace from my usual frantic production. I don't really make too many solid plans though. I just try to keep moving forward.

13. What advice would you like to pass on to the younger generation on budding and aspiring artists?

Don't look for an easy road to success because there isn't one. It's a lot of work but it's fulfilling and your life will be interesting.

Figure out how to have fun making your art and you won't have to convince yourself to go to the studio anymore.

Brett, thanks for such an extensive interview. It was a great experience learning about you. Wish you good luck!  

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