One of the greatest loves of Kelly's life is working with clay, and for over 17 years, she has poured her heart and soul into her work.  Through the years Kelly’s work has evolved into whimsical figurative sculptures. 

Kelly is currently teaching ceramics at Mira Costa College in Cardiff, California and Fallbrook School of the Arts. She also enjoys working with another of her greatest loves, her husband Trent Berning, at their studio and Gallery Berning Clay Gallery in Fallbrook, California.  

Artist Statement 
Unsolicited psychological activity, conjured by fears, loss and discontentment can take precedence in everyday life.  Although the source of these issues may disappear physically, there is an apprehension that still lingers; controlled by the unconscious. This progression from a physical threat to a mental maelstrom, trying to regain a lost sense of balance, stems from a yearning of childhood innocence.  I use clay as a means to transport ideas from inside my mind, into the outer world.  I find great interest in the dynamic interactions of the subconscious and conscious forces in the mental life of a person.  

I am curious by the Carney’s lifestyle.  The idea of blending in or becoming someone else intrigues me.  Then off to a new town, with a new audience who has never seen you before, and will never see you again.   Who is the person behind the mask?   This body of work explores how we mask our emotions.  It deals with issues of life, death, fertility and transformation.  That area, we cannot explain, understand, or control.  

Arms hang from wires to represent how helpless we can be.  Symbols such as pigs, butterflies, skulls and frogs, often provoked from my dreams, are used in my work as metaphors.  In Asian customs frogs are often considered the link between the living and the dead.   The frog goddess Heket symbolized life and fertility to the Ancient Egyptians.  Some regard the black and orange monarch butterfly as carriers of the dead, whereas skulls in Latin traditions are used to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.  The pig is very close to my heart, for personal reasons.  Pigs are also a fertility symbol in the Greek culture, and are considered a strong symbol of luck. 

My ceramic figurative sculptures draw the inner child within us, with its use of bright colors and its whimsical nature.  Though after close examination, ones’ innocence is surrendered to the world of adult emotions; often when one first experiences something tragic.