In her work Kersey constructs bizarre but totally believable worlds, inhabited by inventive characters some of which may be reminiscent of your next door neighbor and others, mutant animals or monsters, which, hopefully, resemble nothing you’ve ever seen before. The figures are wildly imaginative, but all possess an integrity such that you can’t help but get involved in their stories which Kersey condenses into a single frame. Her work has the qualities of a children’s book illustrations that have been manipulated into something far wittier and provocative than anything my parents would have read to me at bedtime.

Tell us a little about yourself. Age? Education?
I’m a 22 year old born an’ raised in Mill Valley. I went to CalArts in Valencia studying Experimental Animation where I completed my 4 minute long undergrad thesis film “The Last Ride of Bobby Jones,” and my comic “Sadie the Seep Dreamer.” Right now I make my bucks at the Pie Palace in San Rafael where I make and bake all the pies there.

What do you like/dislike about living in the bay area?

I love the bay. Every time I leave for a long period of time and come back i remember that. Especially living out in the desert for four years. It’s very inspiring out here. And weird in the best way possible. I spent most of my childhood in Mill Valley, which has changed a lot (a lot a lot a lot a lot). But from the people you talk to, to the things you see, it still surprises me how much I love it here.

If you could move, money and transportation aside, where would you go?
If I did have all the money I needed to go anywhere, the Amazon. Definitely the Amazon.

Since we’ve given you unlimited money and the ability to teleport lets also say you could punch one person in the face, with no consequences. Who would it be? Back up your choice with some incriminating evidence

I’d time travel to the the mid nineties and do all I could to stop George Lucas from making the Star Wars prequels. And then I would do the same thing to Steven Spelberg and destroy his poop-cream movie, “Indiana Jones 4: The Crystal Skull.” A lot more screwed up things have happened in history. But my evidence is clear. Those movies suck.

I don’t want to punch anyone in the face, not really my style because I’m pretty sure my brute strength could barely take down a squirrel…not that I’ve tried or anything…yet.

How would you describe your work to fresh eyes?

Funny thing is, i haven’t quite figured out how to do that. Yet, that is. Maybe it’s because I’m really bad with words.
I like listening to my friends try to describe my artwork to people who don’t know about it. They could blabber about it for 30 seconds and the person listening will start looking at them like their a crazy person. It’s great!
I’m really looking forward to how you guys describe it. Then I think I’ll go with that!

You mentioned you work from live models, how do they make the transformation from exact human forms to the imaginative figures you come up with?

I love drawing from life! It’s great when you’re having a mental block from your work and need something to inspire you. It’s fun to try to make up a story for every pose that a model makes.
When I first started life drawing it was very difficult for me because I felt the need to draw the model perfectly. Exactly as he or she was, which I was really bad at. I almost gave up.
Then I took a illustration class at CalArts with a teacher named John Mahoney. He was great because he would push us to distort the model in our drawings as much as possible. It was such a relief for me because all that pressure felt from before was gone, and i was coming up with pretty good work.
The drawing of the two characters with old man heads that are attached to the sexy lady bodies (does that make sense? Is there a better way to describe it?) I did that in his class. When I showed the drawing to Mahoney he said, “Your work creeps me out, you’re doing a great job!”

When do you work best? Do you prefer a clean workspace or total chaos?

I try to keep a clean work space, sometimes, but i eventually give up. If it looks to clean then it looks like no one works there and that’s frustrating to me. When i run out of room on my desk I go to my bed, when I run out of room on my bed, I work on the floor, when i run out of floor, I go to the living room. After I mess up the living room, that’s when i start to clean up.

Describe some of your influences, it could be other artists, relatives or inanimate objects.

I love comic books and illustrated children’s story books. I still buy them. Probably the book that had the greatest affect on me growing up was “Falling up,” by Shel Silverstein. It was given to me on my ninth birthday from my Great Grandpa Kersey. As soon as I got it I tried to copy his style. I’d draw little kids and monsters with the stippling effected that he used.
Then in High School I came across the “Amphigorey” series by Edward Gorey, and tried to make my work as detailed as possible. Putting lines and patters everywhere.
I think my work still shows them as my main influence. I also really love the works of Henrik Drescher, Marc Bell, R Crumb, and Peter Bagge.

Most of the stuff I draw come from questions like: what if a cat fish and a wiener dog had a baby?
You know man…like…what if?

What do you like to do when you’re not making art?

I like to play guitar. I’m very bad at it, and i’ve pained some roommates ears I’m sure. But if I throw the cords C G and D around, sometimes throwing in A, i get some where…but not very far….not very far yet, that is.

Favorite saturday morning cartoon?

This is a hard one, I think it would be funny if people woke up and saw this every morning:

Anything else you want to add?

I love juice….I really love juice.