You might find Jason Burnett swallowed in a white apron “down in ceramics” in the fine arts center any given day.

A mask covers his nose and mouth, but the outline of his smile is visible when a “distraction” trots through the door.

He’s glad to have a reason to take a break from measuring piles of what is the beginnings of art – but would appear to a non-artist to be dust.

His black and white “Johnny Cupcake” T-shirt, not-quite-black cap, friendly brown beard and tan argyle socks reveal only a hint about the Louisville senior’s personality.

Growing up in a single-mom household molded Burnett. He says his mother “sacrificed so much” to help him get where he’s going.

Similar to many students on the Hill, Burnett works a part-time job and funds his education through loans and scholarships.

He didn’t take art before college, yet always knew what he wanted to be – an artist.

Using gel-roller pens, permanent markers and colored pencils as his media, he created “huge, elaborate doodles and drawings.” Burnett drew in class, even though he was scolded by his teachers.

One day, a woman came to Burnett with an irresistible offer.

“She said, ‘I’ll give you 400 bucks if you do me one that I can put over my fireplace.’ So I did one of those; took me about all summer long,” Burnett remembers. “It was just phenomenal.”

When shortcutting through the ceramics lab one day, Burnett was told he ought to take a ceramics class.

He replied, “I don’t know; Bartel is kind of creepy -have you seen his artwork?”

Now, Burnett assists with assistant professor Tom Bartel’s beginning ceramics classes – and he’ll be published in “500 Ceramic Sculptures” in May 2009.

This past summer, he traveled and had a residency at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Last month, he and gallery director Kristina Arnold brought internationally acclaimed artist Mark Burns to visit Western.

Burnett’s latest works are “cakes” that explore how identity is influenced by society and gender roles.

The pieces are all colorful, with bold, story-telling pictures. He photographs and uses Photoshop to silkscreen the images onto a piece of clay.

“It’s definitely different than anything I’ve seen here,” said Bowling Green senior David Hellman, a ceramics major and Burnett’s roommate.

“These. Took. A looong. Time. Ahhh,” Burnett sighed, referring to the cakes he began working on the second week of this semester.

“I didn’t make them one by one by one by one – I did every single one of them for days.”

Among his sheet cakes, there is a set titled “I Like You Better,” depicting a young man in his boxer shorts and a young woman in her lingerie, a look Burnett found more natural than a nude.

“When I wasn’t looking, they drew their hands in my sketchbook. He put his here, and she put hers over it. And he wrote ‘I like you,’ and she wrote ‘I like you better,’” Burnett said. “It just really captured their personalities together.”

Burnett’s adviser and teacher, Laurin Notheisen, said Burnett wasn’t interested in her printmaking class “until I helped him understand how to cut and glue and sew his prints into paper cakes.”

Now, Burnett is a print minor in addition to working on his Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design.

Burnett created edible-looking slices of cake that combine his love of ceramics and printmaking. The piece is named “The Guys Like Her, She Likes Chocolate Birthday Cake.”

“I feel like they all have this kind of crush on her, and that they’re all kinda getting dolled up for her behind the scenes,” Burnett said. “She’s just, you know, ‘It’s my birthday; I’m just ready for the chocolate cake!’”

Still intrigued by the idea of sugar coating and how far some people will go in order to “sweeten up” a tough situation, Burnett is working on cupcake-themed ceramics.

“To me, a cupcake represents individuality.”

Burnett might be among the best, but even the best have weaknesses. Attending Oak Ridge Military Academy near Greensboro, N.C., for five years still sticks with Burnett.

“Even though I try to be random, there’s still some sense of organization and OCD to it,” he laughed.

“Although it is a strength, it’s very much a flaw – that I can’t let loose,” he said. “And my teacher gets on me about that.”

Bartel agrees. “Like many, myself included, often there is a fine line between our strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “Sometimes technique can get in the way. His work is often so controlled and technically accomplished that it leaves no room for other things.”

Burnett is known among his friends and teachers for his energy, drive and motivation.

Gallery director Kristina Arnold described him as an Energizer bunny and a sponge which absorbs anything in its path.

Students have a chance to view some of Burnett’s work during the student-juried competition in the University Gallery from Oct. 23 to Nov. 17.

Burnett believes he can discover himself and others through his art.

“I want to tell stories of people that are real,” he said. “I think that everybody’s story is important.”

Reach Tabitha Waggoner at diversions@chherald.com.