Figure Sculpture from Life

Kim Bernadas

Instructor

Kim Bernadas works in both figure and portrait sculpture using a classical approach achieving an uncanny likeness to her subjects in her portraiture. In her figures, she uses gesture,  proportion, and the uniqueness of each individual to express the essence of the subject. With a background as a physical therapist and a former ballet instructor, Kim has had a life long study in the dynamics of the human form. Her artistic training began at New Orleans Academy of Fine Art in 1991, where she presently teaches portrait and figurative sculpture. Additionally, Kim conducts Sculpture intensives at several locations in the Southeast throughout the year. Her professional career has included many public and private collections; most recently in 2017, the installation of the monumental work depicting 4 of the 9 Greek Muses in bronze for the Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Other collections include the Walter Dumas Bust for the Baton Rouge Community College, Ed McKee Plaque for Livingston Parish, Baby Pan for the Soniat Garden  and The Lifesize Mother and Child for the Tulane Medical Center Maternity Pavillion. As of Fall 2011, “Birth of a Muse“, the first Post Katrina Public Art Commission for City of New Orleans, was installed as part of a revitalization project for the Coliseum Square Park. She was also featured in the New Orleans Magazine and named the 2005 WYES Artist of the Year, as well as an award winner in the 2004 National Drawing Exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has been recently elected to the prestigious Portrait Sculptors Society of the Americas, and WAOW – Women artists of the West, two very respected national artist organizations. She was elected to the distinguished Portrait Society of America in 2014, and her sculpture “Tasha” was awarded Honorable Mention for Sculpture in the 2014 PSA Membership Competition.  In 2014, she created a life size bronze of Pastor Robert Blakes, Sr., a renowned prophet and religious leader.  While in New Orleans City Park, her life size bronze of philanthropist Stanley W. Ray, Jr.  can be viewed as part of the NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art) Collection. Look for her upcoming 2019 installation of Brother Martin Hernandez, to be placed at the Brother Martin High School Outdoor Mall. Kim Bernadas lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana.