Christine Kerrick

The Beauty Around Us and Within Us

Christine Kerrick was born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Drawing and painting came naturally to her, and she couldn’t imagine working in any other field, so she attended University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she earned a B.F.A. in Illustration.

Christine spent her early career as a graphic designer, learning print production, color separations for fabric printing, typography and the design software that enabled her to take a project from concept to finished print, book or other product. This experience included dealing with vendors, their requirements and budgets.

In 1995, Christine moved to South Florida where she wrote and illustrated three comic books and two graphic novels based on end-time events from the book of Revelation. Her fine art work flourished and took on new direction when she worked with a fellow artist who specialized in textures and creating custom art for the trade. During that time, Christine learned a technique emulating the richness and luminosity of oil paint using acrylic and texture.

In mid-2001, when Christine joined Broward Sheriff’s Office as a graphic designer, the Sheriff sent her to F.B.I. Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where she learned forensic facial imaging for crime victim and missing person identification. When she returned to South Florida, the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division and neighboring police departments enlisted her help to create composite drawings from witness interviews, postmortem drawings and facial reconstructions from skeletal remains, some of which resulted in identifications.

In 2012, Christine published her first illustrated non-fiction book: ‘How To Tell A Prince From A Frog: Law Enforcement Techniques for Knowing Who You’re Dating’ (280 pp., Amazon). She wrote it to help women who are looking for Princes but finding and settling for Frogs.

Her use of varied drawing techniques provides a pleasant variety of elements. She drafts or sets typography for the piece, because in addition to its narrative qualities, typography provides a pretty pattern. Having worked only in pencil in the past, the influence of other artist friends swayed her palette from shades of gray to vibrant jeweled hues. She also started using textural elements to pool the color into certain areas, giving her work a depth and luminosity that is uncommon for acrylic.

Her recent love affair with India has traveled into her art, especially after her trip there in late 2012. She reflects this colorful, warm country in her paintings, which bloom with brilliant hues, iridescent pigments, floral and geometric rosettes and other Indian patterns and themes.

Presently, Christine lives in West Chester, creating collage drawings and paintings and experimenting with found objects. Her work has been shown in galleries in West Chester, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Delaware, Ft. Lauderdale and New York.

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