“Art is a liberator and accessible to all. In my current experience as an art professor, I attempt to teach the whole person, offering challenging instruction while addressing the inner perception of life experiences and how they relate to the creative process. I believe that my role as an artist is to bridge an understanding between people. My artistic impulse is rooted in the desire to bring people together — across cultures or ideologies. The original role of the artist is that of a true messenger. The true artist was able to manifest images that were understood by the masses regardless of their religion or cultural background. Art was essentially the soul of ancient civilizations. My goal as an artist is to make art that inspires, enlightens, challenges, and entertains the viewer. It is my responsibility as an artist to document the history, tell the stories, inspire insight and preserve the truths that education and society disregard and neglect to teach.”
Brad Anthony Bernard is an art instructor, an exhibiting artist, community arts advocate, scholar and entrepreneur. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Bernard received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 1993. He obtained his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi in 2003. He has received numerous mural commissions both public and private for churches, schools, and community centers in the Milwaukee area.
Shortly before returning to Milwaukee he was a recipient of the 2017 Mississippi Humanities Council ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award as well as the ‘Commitment to Blues Legacy’ Award from Mississippi Valley State University for his research and mixed media depictions of Hill Country and Delta Blues musicians. Bernard is now a professor at his alma mater, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where he currently teaches First-Year Experience and New Studio Practice courses while continuing his own artistic endeavor as an exhibiting and public/private commissioned artist.
Afrissippi
Straddle Pipe