FaCUlTY FoCUs
ave H s c i m Cera s ' r o s s ofe D&E Pr
O Brett Kern's ceramics, above, recently earned him the title of WV Living's Artist of the Year.
Brett Kern prepares a ceramic mold in his pottery studio in Myles Center for the Arts.
By Linda Howell Skidmore
ne of Brett Kern’s earliest memories is receiving an inflatable vinyl dinosaur when his baby sister was born. For the little blond-haired boy just half past his second birthday that day marked the beginning of his lifelong interest in prehistoric animals, and left an impression that would eventually spike his artistic career. Now an assistant professor of art at Davis & Elkins College with a forte in ceramics, Kern wanted to preserve that childhood recollection. He had no idea, though, that it would become so popular. Not long after Kern introduced his ceramic dinosaurs – ones that resemble the inflatable toy – the creations became wildly popular. Within just a year, he’s sold more than 100 in different sizes and likenesses to people throughout the country, including actress Jennifer Garner. In Kern’s office, dinosaurs are everywhere. Small resin and plastic figures he purchased fill shelves beside his desk, a Jurassic Park souvenir lurks among art supplies, vinyl creatures await here and there. Then there’s the real
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thing – Kern’s creations, the now nearly famous ones, in an array of colors. “For me, they’re this enduring icon of my childhood,” Kern says. “By making them out of clay I’m using a metaphor of permanence and value. I never imagined it would take off this much.” By just looking at the dinosaurs Kern made it’s hard to tell whether they’re inflatable plastic or ceramic. They exhibit a high, almost patent leather, shine and have crimped edges and that little valve where you puff air into them. Yet, they stand up sturdy. You can only be sure by touching them or when Kern moves them around and you hear that distinctive clinking sound of a fired ceramic piece. But if you’re only seeing them virtually, you just have to ask what they’re made of. Earlier this year, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! posted photos of Kerns’ work on its Facebook page and answered the question: “these are not inflatable toys, they are handcrafted ceramics.” Although Ripley’s didn’t cite Kern as the artist – which generated plenty of posts voicing displeasure of such – he did get more than 1,500 likes and 170-plus shares. However, those numbers are small in comparison to what Kern has attracted through his own social media posts. His Facebook page alone has more than 3,100 followers. Since the beginning of the year, word of Kern’s dinosaurs has “gone almost viral,” he says. It all started when he posted some photos on his blog at brettkernart.com. Since then, around 80,000 people have had a look and hundreds of them have reposted the images. That’s led to mentions on thisiscolossal.com and a YouTube video on Vsauce. It seems a lot of people want to know