As a Graphic and Interpretive Designer
Kerry Penrose is a freelance graphic and interpretive designer, artist, illustrator and photographer.
Kerry Penrose is the creative behind kpenrosedesign and works with her husband, Derek Ridgley, Bushwood.com.au on environmental and cultural heritage interpretation projects, grants and sculptural works.
Kerry has extensive design experience in the industry – taking projects from concept through to completion. She works on Graphic and Interpretive design, logo design, branding and content writing, packaging, banners, brochures, book design and illustration, catalogues, posters – for web use or for print. She illustrates and also paints and draws in various mediums and digitally, depending on the needs of her clients, matching her skills to the job.
Over the years Kerry has worked as a Senior Art Director Designer in Brisbane and Sydney, producing and overseeing the catalogue design, project management of production teams at Grace Bros, O&M, FCB, and Derek Keane and Company, before sea-changing to the Mid North Coast, NSW in 1989.
She and her husband bought a 5 acre bush block and built their home from the timbers that they milled on their property. Derek later started ‘Bushwood Timbers’, a portable milling business and together they designed and constructed their timber pole home.
Kerry, as well as being assistant house builder and learning many new skills in the process, also started her freelance design business at this time.
Kerry also worked parttime for Government for 16years and was an Interpretations Officer and head creative for the in-house design studio “Dorrigo Design” for the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, and was responsible for all the design and illustration of outdoor signage, brochures and posters that promoted the natural and cultural heritage aspects and special places of the National Parks in the Northern Directorate region (Tweed Heads to Newcastle). This included botanical illustrating of flora and fauna, infographics, maps, photography and operating a large format printer and assembling the wayfinding and interpretive display panels inhouse.
A few of the National Parks she has designed the interpretive signage for include Bongil Bongil NP, Tomaree NP, Oxley Wild Rivers NP, Minyon Falls and Nightcap NP, including other work for Gunnadah Landcare, NSW State Forests, Coffs Harbour City Council Rotary Park and North Coast Regional Botanic Gardens.
Some of Kerry’s freelance clients have included:
Bellingen Shire Council logo and stationery, tourism brochure, vehicle decals
Urunga Landcare, Bellingen Shire Council and Office of Environment & Heritage – Urunga Lagoon Footbridge boardwalk wayfinding signage and display panel signs – 10 wayfinding signs and 2 large display panels,
Urunga Landcare, Hungry Head Community, Environment and Arts Project – Interpretation Concept boards for design and seating, 4 wayfinding signs,
Coffs Harbour City Council North Coast Regional Botanic Garden signage and style guide, educational posters, waterwise garden panels, 4 large display signs, 13 location signs, plus the Botanic Gardens Map,
The Yellow Shed logo and instore signage, POS, building signage design, press and illustrations,
Agrisense logo, webpage design, reports,
First Choice Organics logo, powerpoint presentation, brochure cover,
Raleigh Winery photography, display material,
Speedy Wheels Annual Report,
Hungry Head Pottery brochures and posters,
Urunga Scuplture in Park posters and Art Space, Urunga
Glen Wilkinson logo and stationery, product cards,
Bellingen Jazz Festival Posters and tshirt design,
Monkey Mia Yacht Charters, Western Australia – logo, website design and rash shirt design and illustration,
Urunga Sail Training Club logo, all promotional material, press releases, banners, posters, rash shirt design, webpage maintenance, RMS documents and supporting material, training manual. With her husband, originally established the not for profit Sailing School in 2010, obtaining $155K of grants for building and wharf improvements, instructor training and Sailability programs,
Sailurunga logo and brand clothing, photography, training manuals, press releases
Bonville State Public School logo and stationery, obtaining a $3000 Ecoschools grant rebuilding and maintaining the Schools vegetable garden, teaching gardening to students from Kindergarten to YR 6, parents and teachers.
She also designed a book on “Alan Warren on Art” for Grant P Cunningham, Smashwords. Alan Warren was the Principle of the Queensland College of Art at Seven Hills where she completed her Commercial Illustration (Graphic Design) Art degree and was very honored to be given the project on his life’s work many years later.
Designer Statement: ” Whether it’s a piece of artwork or painting, I bring design into everything I do. I believe design is very personal. I strive for timelessness of design that makes the complex simple and work toward designs that represent my clients – are fresh and unique “.
Kerry also has a Business Management degree that she completed while working for the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
As an Ilustrator and Artist
Kerry grew up in the seaside town of Lota in Brisbane, Queensland, next to Moreton Bay, attending Wynnum High School.
It was no surprise that she finds her inspiration for painting and illustrating from the natural coastal ecosystems and waterways, spending her early days with her family exploring the salty shores, mangroves creeks, or boating to ‘the Bays’ many islands.
Her family spent every year camping at Tweed Heads, Coolongatta enjoying the endless summer holidays where the most important thing to decide on was how many times you’d go to the beach, for a swim or surf, or greeting the sunrise at Durumbah beach with her father while he did a spot of beach fishing before breakfast or taking long walks through the bush along the Tweed River at Cobaki with her Grandmother.
Kerry’s later influences were her time at Myer and Grace Bros designing fashion catalogues in the 1980’s where colour was ‘in’ and shaped everything that was worn, accessorised, power-dressed, shoulder-padded coordinated palettes of lots and lots of colour, translating and permeating into a boldness of colour that she uses in her paintings and her sculpture today.
In Sydney she spent most of her weekends taking in the blue hues of Sydney Harbour, sailing.
Since coming to Urunga, sailing is very much a part of Kerry’s life as both her daughter and husband are Sailing Instructors. She enjoys the pristine waters when on the twin rivers that meet the sea at Urunga, the Bellinger and Kalang, with their extensive Lagoon and Wetland system catchments, she is keen on ensuring that they are protected and conserved for future generations.
As an Illustrator and painter Kerry draws on the natural environment around her and won the Bellingen Shire Council ‘Bellingen Art Show’ in 1993 and 1995 with “Maggies Prize” and “Snow Gums on the Plateau”. She has many paintings and illustrations in private collections across Australia.
Kerry uses various mediums and applications and has great skill in matching these to the style of drawing required for the job, whether the art created is a commission for private or commercial purposes.
Artist Statement: “I love to create art in the special environment where we live … in our natural bushland surroundings, the wildlife, the birds within minutes of the rivers, beach and ocean. It touches my soul and inspires me to bring the colours of the forest and the many blues of our pristine beaches to life in my paintings and sculpture.”