Trent Berning

I am a Ceramic Artist and Art Educator in Central Florida. My work is a celebration of the mysteries and magic of life. I’m enticed by the awe and wonderment of the functioning body with the perception of intangible experiences. By taking a playfully primal, if not naïve look at what’s beyond the mechanics of the body, to create surreal inspired compositions that express the mystique of vitality. If you were to explain the functionality of the physical form to a child, what mental images would that child see? Rotator cuffs might become gears, perhaps the digestive system becomes a factory, or a pelvic bone could take on the characteristics of a butterfly. Then the query of what is beyond the structural bones, beyond the technicalities of the human apparatus. Does our physiological self, aid or hinder in defining who we are? These questions inspire my figurative surfaces, which are then juxtaposed with images of optical illusions to reference the enigma of this gift of individuality. The bones comment on the undulation of creation, construction, demise, transcendence and the illusion of controlled permanency. Ancient perfume bottles inspire many of my structures. The highly ornamented tops explode from the vessels to convey growth, transformation and reflections of internal strengths. The loose, scratchy and gestural natures of the renderings are meant to release the energy of the clay, giving a sense of thought in process. This visceral approach to the ceramics allows me to show my love of the material by revealing its intrinsic beauty. I find the human mechanism and the experience of living to be a great ambiguous adventure. This adventure does not necessarily need to be explained but relished through the charisma of existence. I enjoy the idea of the unknown, to allow my imagination to fill in the blanks between how and why. Specialties: Teaching, Kiln Firing, Glaze Calculation, Kiln building and maintenance, Pottery and Sculpture, Forklift Operation.