About
Beth (McCullough) Kerner is a mixed-media artist and writer based on the south shore of Boston, MA. With decades of experience as a Designer and Creative Director for global brands, she now channels her creative expertise into abstract rope-based artwork and fiction writing that explores themes of adventure, resilience, connection, and transformation. Beth’s current project is a coming-of-age adventure novel, Longmeadow Longshots, with an expected release in 2027.
…more of the story
Beth began her journey with art and storytelling in Longmeadow, MA, practicing calligraphy, photography, and sketching, while also filling notebooks with imaginative stories from a young age. As a teen she had trouble staying still in her seat at traditional public school, so she attended the Lower Pioneer Valley Graphic Arts Trade School and enjoyed Graphic Arts training. She continued her education at the college level, graduating from UMASS/Boston. Her first professional job was for Camex, an emerging graphic design computer company. She traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe, training newspaper and retail designers on how to use the newly emerging graphic design computer systems.
Since then, Beth has worked as a Designer, Art Director, and Creative Director for global brands such as Sperry Top-Sider, Rockport, Keds, RueLaLa, The Holland Companies, New Balance, and J.Jill. She has created everything from global magazine advertising and editorial work, catalogs, brand logos, billboards, and packaging. She has overseen staff, directed fashion and editorial photoshoots, and designed full-building wraps for the 2012 London Olympics.
Beth's loving husband of 28 years, Peter Kerner, passed away in 2014 after struggling with ALS for ten years. The disease took a toll on the family, but they persevered (they have five wonderful daughters, Addie and Skyler; and Beth's step-daughters: Jenn; Heather; and Pipere). Peter was an avid sailor and introduced her to rope/line/sheets and knotting techniques while they sailed together.
Beth has transitioned from corporate creative work to building her own writing and art studio. Her abstract mixed-media artwork features rope in each piece, a material she fell in love with after studying its significant use throughout world history and prehistoric times. She works with rope's distinctive textural properties and color ranges to create beautiful patterns, and expresses her artistic vision through respect for the ocean, nature, and the harmony between line, space, and negative space. In her writing, Beth draws on these same sensibilities: a feel for texture and rhythm, a deep love for the natural world, and stories shaped by place, history, and the quiet strength of connection.
Today, Beth continues to expand her creative practice through writing. Rooted in her lifelong love of storytelling, she crafts personal essay’s and fiction that explore themes of resilience, contrast, connection, and transformation, the same threads that run through her visual art.
Beth lives with her family on the south shore of Boston, MA, and enjoys hanging out and writing on a private island near her home. She donates a portion of her profits to charities that support ALS patients.
