Kerrie Lester

{{Short description|Australian painter}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Kerrie Lester

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1953|5|31}}

| birth_place = Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2016|4|5|1953|5|31}}

| death_place = Sydney, Australia

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| nationality = Australian

| education = National Art School
Alexander Mackie College

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| awards = {{awd|Mosman Art Prize|2011|Out on a Limb}}

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Kerrie Lester (31 May 1953 – 5 April 2016) was an Australian artistWho's Who in Australia, ConnectWeb, 2016. who was a frequent finalist in the Archibald Prize for portraiture, although she never won the main prize.

She was born to John Lester and Dolores Metcalfe at the Crown Street Women's Hospital in Surry Hills, Sydney in 1953,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18371123 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=36,020 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 June 1953 |accessdate=11 April 2016 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}} and studied fine arts at the National Art School and the Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education between 1971 and 1975. She held her first solo exhibition in 1976.{{cite web|title=Kerrie Lester (1953–2016)|url=http://www.portrait.gov.au/people/kerrie-lester-1953|publisher=National Gallery of Australia|accessdate=11 April 2016}}

Lester was a finalist in the Archibald Prize sixteen times, but never won. She did win the associated Packing Room Prize in 1998, for her Self-portrait as a bridesmaid—an allusion to the saying "Always a bridesmaid, never the bride" in relation to her missing out on the Archibald so regularly,{{cite news|last1=McDonald|first1=John|title=Australian artist Kerrie Lester dies after two-year battle with cancer|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/australian-artist-kerrie-lester-dies-after-twoyear-battle-with-cancer-20160405-gnz970.html|accessdate=11 April 2016|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=5 April 2016}} and she stopped entering the competition in 2012.{{cite news |last1= Boland |first1= Michaela |title= Artist Kerrie Lester dies after cancer battle |url= http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/artist-kerrie-lester-dies-after-cancer-battle/news-story/ba7133635b2031ee19ca19026568e1ae|accessdate=11 April 2016 |work= The Australian |date= 5 April 2016}} Nonetheless, the display of her work at the shortlist exhibitions increased her profile, and the National Portrait Gallery acquired or commissioned her portraits of Margaret Fink, Fred Hollows, James Morrison and Cathy Freeman. She was also a finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award nine times, and was a regular finalist and exhibitor in the Wynne Prize and Sir John Sulman Prize group exhibitions. In 2011, she won the Mosman Art Prize for her painting Out on a Limb.

In 2014, she was diagnosed with leukemia, stopping treatment after two stem cell transplants failed to stop the progression of the disease. She died on 5 April 2016, aged 62.