Building Mardi Gras

Mark Olivier’s office looks out over the warehouse that is Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, a year-round museum which doubles as a production warehouse for Blaine Kern Studios. Olivier is the prop shop production manager for the New Orleans-based studios; overseeing a crew of twenty-five artists in the months leading up to the holiday to finish floats for various clubs, including Bacchus, Orpheus, and Rex, among many others. This year they completed about 450 floats, many of which are top-secret—not shown or photographed until the day of their unveiling.

On the day I visited, Olivier’s office was strewn with sketches, photos, paperwork, and even a small alligator head. A paper parade marched along one wall—printed pages detailing each of the various parades for which the company is creating floats. From the vantage point of his window, Olivier watched painters, sculptors, and detailers work on an array of commissioned projects. Though about seventy-five percent of the work they do is for Mardi Gras clubs, the company also fulfills corporate orders for the likes of Nickelodeon, Chick-fil-A, and local establishments like the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. Additionally, they have produced public art for the city, including a series of fish and pelicans.

Olivier has not always worked as an artist; twelve years ago he was employed as an oil-rig worker in Houma. Then he and his wife took a trip to New Orleans: “One day me and my wife were at the Riverwalk getting something to eat and we looked out across and saw Mardi Gras World, and I asked my wife, ‘What’s Mardi Gras World? Let’s go over there and check it out.’”

Olivier fell in love with the place and filled out an application on the spot for any open position. Then he forgot he had done so. A few weeks later he was called by Blaine Kern himself and asked to work as a sculptor on a commissioned project for Nickelodeon in California.

Within just a few days of starting work at the studio, Olivier was promoted to prop shop manager. He explained that Blaine Kern liked the way he positioned the shop and interacted with tourists. “It was a win-win; they kind of let me run with it,” said Olivier. Today the Blaine Kern Mardi Gras empire is run by his son, Barry Kern, who oversees prop production and deals directly with clients.

Olivier’s duties are broad and varied, especially leading up to Mardi Gras, when he often leaves work at midnight to drive back home to Houma, only to return to the studios at seven the next morning. He said it is like this every year—always down to the wire. There is just no way to foresee what challenges he and his crew might run into before the big day—clients can change their minds, floats may need structural reinforcing, anything can happen.

While he loves his job, he admitted to having limited artistic license. “We’re basically commissioned by our customers to do certain things. We have certain freedoms. We can make a very bulbous nose … or buggy eyes, a giant smile, long hair or a mustache, or whatever. But for the most part we have to follow these sketches.”

Still, for Olivier, Mardi Gras day feels like a well-deserved exhibition. “This is a kind of kinetic art show. You’re inspiring a person to go, ‘Uh, I don’t know what that is,’ and maybe you’ve gotten someone to look it up, and all of a sudden you’ve changed someone’s life …”

It’s the critics and curious spectators Olivier lives for, hoping to inspire them to learn more about the history and culture of Mardi Gras and New Orleans through his artistic representations (though he has nothing against just having a good time). “Some people just say, ‘Hey, there’s a big tree coming down the street!’ but they’re not looking at the fact that [the float is detailing] the story of the golden fleece, [or they may say,] ‘There’s the ram’s skin … what was that story about?’”

His work also extends to giving tours occasionally, one of the highlights of his job. The Bacchus brontosaurus greets visitors at the door while jesters, dragons, and various celebrity busts look on. Some of the Mardi Gras World installations are permanent or out-of-use, but most of the colorful sculptures a visitor encounters on a walk through the cavernous building are being fixed or modified for their next parade. During a tour through the massive museum, crews meticulously papier-machéd a giant crown, applied details to paper flowers, built scaffolding on a multi-level float, and airbrushed a winding vine along the side of another. 

According to Olivier, the company rarely builds a piece from scratch. Unless it is a corporate commission, almost all of the pieces are refurbished each year. Some pieces are disassembled and transformed into something else: a flower might become a collar, or a crown might become a chess piece. Individual floats also change or are updated annually according to the year’s theme, Signature floats stay the same, though—the Rex Jester Float, the Orpheus Smokey Mary, or the Endymion Pontchartrain Beach Float.

Kids frequently ask Olivier what it takes to get a job at Mardi Gras World. “I pull out my tape measure and say ‘Learn how to read one of these!’ Because numbers are always important. Eleven feet is always eleven feet, it’s not eleven feet and a little bit. We have height restrictions on parades.” As an expert at maneuvering the floats on the big day, he should know. Poor maneuvering is one of the main causes of damage to floats, though there are freak accidents or krewe-related incidents as well. Keeping the floats intact on parade day preserves them for the next year and means less upkeep by the Kern crew.

Olivier has formal training as an artist, with a degree in sculpting from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, but the credentials aren’t strictly necessary in his field. Some of the artists he works with hold degrees, but many do not. In his opinion, a simple understanding of carpentry and electrical knowledge is what it takes. “We’re basically a set of carpenters with an extraordinary set of skills. We can … do something a little more artistic.” Many employees start in the gift shop or cleaning in the studio and end up carving sculptures or painting, “I like to say that this shop is a school,” said Olivier, adding that participation in his crew members’ professional and artistic growth is a fulfilling aspect of his job.

“I like working around creative people, I like the challenges it poses. Sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out, but that’s anything. I could probably stock shelves for a living and be just as dedicated to what I do, but I get the opportunity to do something I really love.”

Details. Details. Details.

1380 Port of New Orleans Place

New Orleans, La.

(504) 361-7821 • mardigrasworld.com