AN ARTIST FOR ALL SEASONS
Accomplished in both the visual and performing arts, Kerry Reid wore many hats, all of them with style.
Kerry Reid 1962–2024
Over a four-decade career, Kerry Reid worked as an illustrator, production and theatre designer, exhibition designer, scenic artist, singer, actor, clown doctor and cabaret artist. She was a generous human, with a passion for equality, justice, the arts, animals and nature.
In 1985, Kerry began her design career as exhibition designer at Old Parliament House Constitutional Museum in Adelaide. In the 1990s, she started working as a freelance theatre designer for a host of South Australian companies, including Patch, Magpie, Jumbuck Theatre, Boulevard, Junction, Vitalstatistix, Leigh Warren & Dancers, Oddbodies, Urban Myth, Flying Penguin, Backstairs Theatre, Port Youth, Cirkidz, Slack Taxi and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, as well as AC Arts.
She created scenic artwork and props for such companies as the State Theatre Company South Australia, the 2000 Adelaide Festival and the State Opera South Australia. Kerry’s puppet-making skills were employed by Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, Philippe Genty, Patch Theatre, Boulevard Theatre, Windmill Theatre Co and the State Theatre Company. In 2005, she painted murals for the new Woomera Heritage Centre and the Willunga Museum.
As an actor and performer, Kerry appeared in many festivals and events, working with Patch and Oddbodies. In 1993, she created her celebrated Miss Patsy DeCline character, performing her across Australia and New Zealand for two decades.
From 1997 to 2003, Kerry toured Australia with Vitalstatistix’s cabaret comedy about breast cancer called Titbits.
Over the last 10 years, she charmed audiences with her cabaret show, Miss Kitty’s Karavan, performing with a band of accomplished musicians. Her wonderful ability to weave music, magic and humour made us cry with laughter.
From 2009, she worked as a clown doctor at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital and at Flinders Medical Centre, bringing joy to many patients with life-threatening illnesses and those who were undergoing serious procedures.
Kerry illustrated It’s Raining Fish and Frogs (Omnibus Books), What’s Up There? (Jacaranda Young Enquirers) and A Butcherbird Story (Access Press), as well as booklets for Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, China and Tanzania, and the World Health Organization. She also drew cartoons and illustrations for cards, posters and other publications.
Kerry is survived by her mother Donna, brother Mark, sister-in-law Beth, nieces Holly and Sydney, and cousins Lisa and Sara.
You will be sadly missed by your whole theatre and music family, Kerry, but your star will always shine bright.
Obituary by Catherine Fitzgerald and Chrissie Page.
