About Philippa Kerr
I'm an artist, musician and former academic, and I live in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. I studied fine art at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where I learnt linocut printmaking. Then I got diverted by the prospect of an academic career, and went on to get a PhD in social psychology. I worked in universities for ten years as a social science researcher and lecturer before leaving academia in 2022. Now I make art at home and teach the violin at schools around Maritzburg. I'm also part of an art group that meets fortnightly in the Midlands, and in 2025 I participated in two group exhibitions, in Howick and Nottingham Road respectively.
(I've written a lot about working in academia and also about leaving. You can find my blog about leaving here: www.philippakerr.wordpress.com)
For the last year I've been working on a series of linocuts about towns and buildings where I've lived or worked. I like paying attention to design details in buildings, and how these interact with the organic shapes of plants around them. These works also reflect the search for a home and a sense of place that I have sort-of found on coming back to Maritzburg, after moving from city to city and country to country many times for academic jobs.
Learning linocut is learning the art of what is implied, and what is left behind. Since you generally only have one single-layered surface to work with (unlike painting where you can keep putting more layers on top of previous layers), and since you cut away parts of that surface in a way that cannot be undone, you have to find inventive ways of indicating depth, edges and light. Few things beat the happiness of peeling a successful print off the lino block :) - but there's also a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth when prints flop!
I also teach workshops on linocut printing. These are usually on demand so please contact me if you have some friends who would like to arrange a day's lesson in printmaking.
I am also a musician; I've played in orchestras in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Norway, and I've sung in Cathedral choirs in Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Now I'm part of a small SATB singing group with three friends from Durban.
I play the violin at weddings and functions - do contact me if you would like beautiful violin music at your event!
Happy browsing!