Jeff Kern is a native of  Springfield and attended the University of Massachusetts where he received a BFA in Printmaking in 1979.  After graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kern began self-education in traditional oil techniques.  He has perfected an approach to realism that is concerned with careful subject design, and careful attention to detail, which is sometimes taken to a trompe l’oeil degree of finish.  Kern is perhaps best known for these highly detailed trompe l’oeil still life paintings created from eclectic assortments of antiques, paper ephemera and collectibles found at flea markets and auctions.