Barry Kern didn't notice the giant Cat in the Hat bobbing along
Newton Street in Algiers. His eyes were on the parking lot next to Mardi
Gras World, as he picked up some stray candy wrappers.
"It's a habit," he explained as he deposited the wrappers in a garbage
can. By that time, the float with the Dr. Seuss characters was somewhere
else on the Kern compound.
The whimsical Mardi Gras float is not one of Barry Kern's projects.
Though he's the son of the man known as "Mr. Mardi Gras," Barry doesn't do
floats.
He doesn't do Mardi Gras either, if he can help it. "For me, the Mardi
Gras business was conquered," he says.
As president of Kern Sculpture Co., Kern's work includes pirates,
parrots and pop icons from Mickey Mouse to Marilyn Monroe. The characters
adorn theme parks, restaurants, stores and casinos around the U.S. and in
some other countries.
That Kern should develop a keen interest in such creations is hardly
surprising.
Barry's grandfather built floats on Algiers garbage trucks. His father,
Blaine Kern , the founder of Blaine Kern Artists, has spent the past
half-century creating Mardi Gras floats that roll through crowds at
celebrations throughout the world.
Kern Sculpture takes these fiberglass figures out of the parades and
off the trucks. His figures and bas-relief sculptures are seen throughout
the world. In Tokyo, an18-foot Hercules presides over a burger joint. And
in Paris, a 15-foot Elvis straddles the bar in a 1950s-theme restaurant.
As one of only a few firms that specialize in three-dimensional
environments Kern Sculpture has gained a national and international
reputation. The reputation stems largely from work with the Walt Disney
Co., whose relationship with the Kern companies dates to 1959.
That was when Walt Disney, impressed with Blaine Kern’s floats during a
Mardi Gras visit to New Orleans, sought out Kern and offered him a job.
Blaine Kern turned down the job, but gained Disney as a customer. That
relationship eventually would benefit Kern’s son. Barry Kern’s first
sculpture project was for the 1984 World’s Fair, working on the entrance
gate and the mile-long Wonder Wall. The 21-year-old Kern saw the potential
for using the skills and materials involved in creating Mardi Gras floats
to create something permanent and stationary. The Disney company gave him
his next contract.
They hired Kern to create an “old south” atmosphere for a party to
celebrate the opening of a new theme park ride, Splash Mountain. The party
was a bigger splash than the ride, and gave Barry Kern some Disney
references to bring in more contracts. The idea behind the sculpture
company, Kern says, was to provide non-seasonal work to keep the firm’s
artists busy throughout the year. The sculpture company now generates more
than 40 percent of the revenues of the Kern companies: Kern Sculpture,
Blaine Kern Artists and Mardi Gras World.
Blaine Kern Artists, which creates about 400 floats a year, has the
Mardi Gras market cornered. Most of the recent growth has been in the
10-year-old sculpture company. Barry Kern describes his business as
fabricating dreams. About 30 percent of the business is from theme parks,
and about half of that from the Walt Disney Co. Another quarter is from
the gamin industry, and the rest from stores, restaurants and
miscellaneous projects like architectural facades and team mascots.
Working with the Disney empire not only gave Kern worldwide exposure,
it brought in other business. Rhode island-based restaurant designer
Morris Lathanson, for example, hired Kern after working with him on
EuroDisney near Paris. Lathanson says he now uses Kern Sculpture instead
of hiring individual artists for murals and sculptures in the restaurants
he designs. Kern can take his concept and interpret correctly, but that’s
not the firm’s only attribute. “I have confidence that the job will get
done – and that it will get done on time,” Lathanson says. “For us, that’s
a major consideration.” Kern Sculpture also competes with a handful of Los
Angeles firms specializing in movie sets and theme parks. Because it’s
accustomed to Mardi Gras revenues rather than movie revenues, it can out
bid these firms on the theme part contracts.
Price is one reason that Houston-based retail architectural firm,
Brand+Allen Architects Inc., now uses Kern exclusively, says Howard Hill,
the firm’s senior designer. Hill says he was impressed with Kern when they
worked together on a Disney project. “We’ve grown to trust what Barry
tells us,” Hill says. The Kern company is one of the only Disney vendors
that can construct Mickeys, Minnies and other Disney characters without
continual supervision. “Basically, we understand the art and what the
customer wants,” Kern says. The Kern companies bring in about $10 million
a year and employ about 120 people. It’s not a high-volume business, Kern
says. Since the work is individually crafted rather than mass-produced,
profits are not high.
Much of Kern’s recent work has been for casinos. “Now there’s a spike
in the casino industry,” Kern says. “But that could turn around quickly.”
Meanwhile, it is building a name for itself in the gambling industry, says
Dave Jonas, a Showboat Inc. vice president of operations who hired Kern
for an Atlantic City casino. “We look at them as something unusual and
refreshing,” Jonas says. “They’re craftsmen. They take pride in their
work. The Kern artists worked with Showboat from developing the concept to
putting the final touches on the giant carousel horse that has become the
casino’s centerpiece.
Kern, who had several small contracts with Harrah’s new Orleans, says
he isn’t concentrating on the gambling industry. A recent joint marketing
agreement with electronics manufacturer Micohn Gaming allows his company
to keep a foot hold in the casinos while focusing on the other areas.
Though Kern Sculpture has developed a separate identity from Blaine Kern
Artists and Mardi Gras World, the company’s roots are in the Carnival
celebration.
The Mardi Gras mystique draws talent to the company, Kern says. “I
don’t think Kern Sculpture Company would be successful without Mardi
Gras,” he says. Kern works from a renovated shotgun cottage on the Mardi
Gras compound across the river from the French Quarter. But he doesn’t
like spending too much time behind his desk. The action is across the
street where the artists build, mold and paint.
Walking through the shop, Kern inspects a crocodile holding up a
ballerina hippopotamus. The hippo and other “Fantasia” characters will end
up in Orlando, where Disney World visitors will play miniature golf around
them. “Every day is different,” he says. “God forbid the company get to
big that I don’t know what’s going in the shop.”
He
doesn't do Mardi Gras
