Kerry Stokes

Kerry Stokes (1949 – 2009)



WA artist, Kerry Stokes enjoyed an immensely varied career within the visual arts, gaining an enviable reputation in her wake.

Kerry obtained her Diploma in Fine Art from Perth Technical College in the late 60’s, worked as a graphic artist for Channel 9 and at Selfridges in London, has lectured at Perth Technical College, taught art and printmaking in Perth, Broome and abroad, and participated in and organised a myriad of festivals, master-classes and field trips. As if this were not enough, she has held more than seventeen solo exhibitions, twelve joint exhibitions and participated in numerous community and invited exhibitions throughout Western Australia, and in the Eastern states as painter, sculptor and printmaker.

Her first job at Channel 9 was important in her development as a visual artist. “Working in what was a relatively new filed of television graphics was very exciting as a first job, I had to learn how to work very quickly and in black and white,” she said. “The tools of design were felt pens, gouache and Letraset on light grey, mid grey and black cap cards, everything was done by hand.”

Accolades came her way soon after graduation when she won the 1976 Westralian Newspaper’s Young Artists Award, followed by a number of painting, sculpture and printmaking prizes and awards, the most recent being the 2007 Painting Prize, Shinju Matsuri Art Awards in Broome, WA.

Kerry has been the recipient of a number of sought-after commissions over the years. Her work is held in significant private collections around Australia and in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom and Spain, as well as in notable public collections, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Technical College, and the Credo Museum, Yanagawa, Japan.

Kerry Ann Stokes was born in Camperdown, NSW on 13th March, 1949. After being awarded a sholarship to study Fine Art in 1965, Kerry obtained a Diploma in Fine Art – Painting – in 1967 form Perth Technical College.

After her Swan Television Channel 9 Perth experiences, she set off through the United Kingdom, Spain, the USA, the Caribbean Islands and New Zealand. Kerry remained active as an artist throughout her various travels, her work reflecting the wide range of cultural, social and other influences of the places she visited.

Returning once again to Perth, Kerry was accepted at WAIT (now Curtin University of Technology) where she studied Sculpture, later taking up further studies in Printmaking at Perth Technical College.

She started lecturing at Perth Technical College in 1975. Through her involvement with students and her interest in printmaking, she helped establish the first printmakers’ workshop in Perth, and served as president of the Printmakers Association for two years.

With the birth of her son in 1981, Kerry resumed part-time teaching at Perth Technical College until 1983, when she went to Papua New Guinea. While there she exhibited a major collection of birds, animals and people of the Eastern Highlands, also teaching art at secondary and tertiary levels.

Kerry returned to Perth from 1983 until her first trip to Broome in 1989. In 1991 she won the Shinju art award for sculpture. She returned to Broome more permanently in 1997 when she became involved in the art community through festivals, teaching, solo exhibitions and several commissions including a suite of 13 large works on paper for a hotel in Shanghai, China.

Latterly, Kerry worked mainly in oils and acrylics, but with her sculpting background and knowledge of materials, she was always fascinated by the possibilities offered by different surfaces that allowed her to control the absorbent qualities of her support.

Over the past decade, Kerry’s style had become abstract and intuitive. Her point of reference for “Recent Works: A Northern Perspective” was the North West, but her interpretation created pictorial parallels that were highly individual and more essential than copying reality could ever be.

She was a member of a number of visual arts bodies including, 2002 Director, Visual Arts BAMF Broome Arts & Music Foundation, 1987-2000 Office Holder and committee member of numerous professional art associations and advisory bodies including: Interalia, NAVA, Artemis (Founding member & Chairperson – Artemis Women’s Art Forum), Praxis, Printmaker’s Association of WA, Artists Foundation of WA.