Rising Stars: Meet Kadin Whitsitt

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kadin Whitsitt.

Hi Kadin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story. 
My creativity was nurtured at a young age by my family. My mom, her sister, and my grandpa are all artists and provided me the tools and spaces to freely explore my artistic and individual identity. My mom would build me incredible cardboard forts and make castles for my toys. I never had any desire for the Barbie dream house when my mom would make me a Japanese castle with trap doors and secret rooms. She showed me the power an artist has to manifest and create anything into existence, defining your own rules and limits. If you want to see something, you can create it yourself. The agency she taught me inspired me to start sculpting my own toys. I am mixed Black, Japanese, and White, and as a young triracial girl, I never came across dolls or toys that looked like me and I could identify with. The characters I would sculpt and play with were otherworldly and transcendent of race, gender, or species. I think this was a reflection of my love for sci-fi and fantasy movies as well as my wanting to connect with my toys through their uniqueness or oddities, making me feel less of an “other.” 

There was very little mixed-race representation around when I grew up, so I used my art as a platform to make it for myself. My art evolved from making my own toys to exploring personal intersections among my cultures through sculpture. The subjects I explored through my work provided me the power and comfortability to confidently own the dynamic and sometimes ambiguous nature of my racial identity, defying polarizing boxes of identification that I had been presented with my whole life. A common motif in my work was around the connection between hair and identity across my cultures and my own journey to understanding and embracing my curly hair without any Black female family members to show me how. My studies on hair now translate into the playful and expressive hairstyles in my character sculptures. It is such an important element to tell me who the characters are, and I also have the most fun figuring that out. 

I attended Roski, USC’s School of Art and Design, where I had the amazing opportunity to explore a wide range of materials and art styles. I graduated with a BFA in fine arts with an emphasis in sculpture. Towards the end of my studies, I found myself making a full circle from my childhood and sculpting a series of action figurines for my senior thesis. This got me thinking about the power of representation in toys and led me to work for Jilly Bing LLC as a concept designer and one of the founding team members. Jilly Bing is a toy company with the mission to create a doll that authentically represents the modern Asian American girl and instills pride and education in their culture and food. It was an amazing opportunity to learn about the toy production process and take on diverse responsibilities for a company with a mission close to my heart: making kids feel seen, represented, and proud of their culture and identity through their dolls, something I wish I had. My work consisted of creating the initial head sculpts, the brand color palette, designing the fashion for the Jilly doll and other future characters, concept and graphic design for the story, brand style, and website, and sourcing and communicating with freelance artists to keep the brand look consistent. I also directed and built the photoshoot set and props. One of my favorite parts about working with Jilly Bing was the constant collaboration and team meetings to stay connected to why we were doing this and how to stay as authentic as we could. The doll is now in Macy and Toys”R”Us stores! You can also check it out at https://jillybing.com/. 

My current work is mostly freelance 3D artwork and design consultation. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think what could be viewed as both one of my challenges as well as my strengths as an artist is my curiosity preventing me from choosing a specific style and really developing it. I get so excited about various different ideas I want to explore, and as a result, a lot of my work looks very different (and a lot gets unfinished), which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing. But I see most successful artists have a recognizable “look” to their work. I think I am just waiting to find one that I’m ready to stick with for a while. But for now, I am comfortable knowing that the thread that connects all my work is me and my perspective through the making process. 

I am a bit of a perfectionist, which results in the details of my work coming out very intricate and polished, often making my clay sculptures appear digitally modeled, but I’ve also found obsession with perfection can be a crutch. It keeps me from churning out and posting works as quickly as I would like to. Sometimes I give myself exercises called “sculpts of the day”, where I have to start and finish a piece in a day, just to focus more on the concept as opposed to the refinement. 

I would say my biggest challenge as an artist is maintaining a presence on social media. I don’t love using Instagram, but it is essential to have as an artist nowadays. I have a lot of work that I haven’t posted because I didn’t get a good photo of it, and I get so wrapped up in my work, filming it is usually the last thing on my mind. I am trying to get better at filming process videos for TikTok and IG reels and keeping people engaged, not just in the final completed work. My artist resolution this year is to post more, even if works are not complete or perfect. Getting one’s work out there and growing an online audience is an art form in itself that I am still learning. Always open to tips! 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For the past four years, I have been doing freelance mixed material 3D art for film props, business decor, toy modeling, and custom caricature sculptures, which is where I have been narrowing my focus. In my free time I’m working on concept sculpts for future collectible art toys and wearable toy lines I want to explore. I am drawn to exploring the potential of toys and how they can be integrated across all genres of pop culture, from media objects, music, and entertainment to leisure and fashion, and many other possible areas. It excites me to see collectible “art toys” and designer toys becoming more popular and entering new spaces. 

I am currently working on a series of several cat music groups specializing in four different genres of music: jazz, rap, reggae, and punk rock. Each group is sculpted in a unique style connecting to the music and has their own stage. The plan is to have a “festival” show for them early next year and include other artists around LA to sell their works. 

While I am working towards being able to manufacture my figures and produce more to sell, there is still a very precious one-of-a-kind quality to my hand-sculpted works. When I am sculpting a piece, I let the material guide me through the process. Seeing something come to life in my hands, accepting imperfection, and sometimes a lack of control opens unexpected paths that lead to truly unique and interesting outcomes. I think it also makes my characters look more alive and connected to our physical spaces. I want them to look like they are about to move or blink. This is the value I see in my hand-sculpted works as opposed to other mass-produced art toys. They are created out of true presence in the process. 

As I envision building my own line of art toys, I see all my works originating in clay and then being digitally rendered and manufactured as collectible pieces, ranging from wearable works to desk and home pieces. I want to create playful, immersive spaces to showcase my works, highlight the original hand-sculpted pieces, and create dynamic worlds for collectors and viewers to explore. 

What does success mean to you?
Success to me is creating something that has the potential to delight and connect with diverse audiences, curating unique in-person experiences and often inspiring viewers’ own creativity to take flight. I want to make works and experiences that people have never seen before, but still find a connection with. Success to me is working with people and for missions that inspire me. I have such a talented and motivated network of creatives and friends around me in LA, and collaborating, growing, and building with them is something I really cherish. My approach through the making process, as well as life, is very fluid. I trust that as long as I keep staying creative and exploring the things that excite me, putting my work out there, and staying positive and good to people along the way, everything will fall into place as it should. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kadinwhitsitt.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: @kadin.kreates