KELLY BERNING: Common Threads, Solo Exhibition Opening Reception

KELLY BERNING
Winner of our 20th Annual 100% Pure Florida Juried Exhibit

September 1-27, 2026

My ceramic work explores memory, transformation, time, and the emotional landscapes that shape human experience, often through themes of ritual, hope, and imagination. Through figurative sculpture and functional forms, I create objects that invite reflection, tell stories, and carry symbolic intention. Influenced by surrealism and psychological storytelling, my work often occupies a dreamlike space between memory and imagination, where personal experience becomes universal.

Across several interconnected bodies of work, I investigate the ways identity is formed through relationships, ritual, nature, and change. Many figurative sculptures draw from my experiences as both a woman and a mother, exploring the joys, vulnerabilities, and quiet complexities of raising children in a world that often feels divided and uncertain. These figures invite viewers to reconnect with the wonder and curiosity of childhood while reflecting on growth, protection, resilience, and the ways our identities continue to evolve throughout our lives.

Recurring symbols create visual threads throughout the exhibition. Figures emerging from heads represent growth, imagination, and expanding consciousness, while maternal forms nestled within the body speak to nurturing, connection, and the enduring bond between parent and child. Dangling arms suggest the helplessness that can accompany caring deeply for another person. Many recurring symbols serve as metaphors for memory, transition, hope, freedom, and the passage of time.

My Juju pieces extend these ideas through ceramic dolls often named after individuals who embody kindness and positivity. Adorned with pearl pins with affirmations such as Love, Strength, Joy, Health, and Gratitude, these works invert traditional voodoo imagery by amplifying positive energy rather than diminishing it. Similarly, many of my figurative sculptures are designed to hold sage for smudging, transforming them into ritual objects for cleansing, balance, and renewal. As the sage burns, these affirmations become active intentions, allowing the sculptures to function as both contemplative objects and participatory experiences.

My most recent functional work, The Absurdity Series, embraces humor and whimsy as a response to the surreal nature of contemporary life. When reality itself feels upside down, chickens riding bicycles and flamingos flying on spaceships become surprisingly honest reflections of the world around us. These playful narratives offer moments of levity while reminding us that imagination can be a powerful way of navigating uncertainty.

Although these bodies of work differ in subject and form, they are connected by a shared interest in transformation of material, memory, emotion, and perspective. Together they invite viewers to pause, reflect, and discover moments of hope, positivity, wonder, and connection within both the extraordinary and the everyday.

Across all of my work, I am interested in the transformation of material, memory, and emotion, creating opportunities for reflection and connection. ~ Kelly Berning