ABOUT

by Seth Hopkins, Executive Director at Booth Western Art Museum

Kim Rody’s road to art sounds like the plot for a romantic comedy or the lyrics to a country song. In the mid-’90s she was literally selling insurance in Texas. But her dreams were of painting oceanside, soaking up the sun, listening to the rhythmic surf, observing the wildlife, feeling the tropical breeze, watching her man swab the deck, smelling the shrimp – they’re beginning to boil… (You get the picture.) 

Unlike most people, she really did have the guts to say, “Take This Job and Shove It.” Becoming an artist doesn’t happen overnight. It would take several years of art classes and literally thousands of paintings across the easel before she could claim artist as her full-time profession. But in 2000, the dawn of a new century found her well on her way, based first in South Florida and later in the magical Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. Living on her boat in Hope Town Harbour, she met and married the sailor on the next mooring. (You can’t make this up!) 

Taking to heart an often-given piece of art advice, she painted what she knew and what was around her.  Collectors soon began scooping up her large, colorful and dramatic canvases of fish, turtles, palm trees, and all things tropical. She became known as the “Fishartista,” and her art images were printed on everything from towels to dishes and jigsaw puzzles. She ran much of this business herself, having been a successful corporate type. However, she eventually realized that she was being sucked back into that which she had already run away from once. Hurricane Dorian had a strong influence on that revelation. With her home and studio mostly destroyed, along with many of her paintings, a three-year period of rebuilding and reprioritizing brought clarity. 

Today she is squarely focused on creating the best works of art possible. “In the early days, my approach was to accurately depict the anatomy of sea life,” she says. “Then I was compelled to paint those creatures in relationship to each other (schools, flocks, groups). Now, after twenty years of painting, I’m finding myself concentrating on the actual act of applying paint onto the canvas. I am letting myself be artistic. Rather than just painting fish fins and turtle shells, I’m currently working on ‘unified’ paintings of my favorite subjects while focusing on the contrast of light/dark, color composition and building drama on the canvas.” Her work is appealing to clients looking for a dramatic, bright, and colorful feel which pulls the viewer in and under, into the underwater world she loves best, and that few enjoy first-hand. 

Occasionally taking a break from paradise, (Yes, you still need a vacation no matter how great your home is.) Kim escapes to the mountains around Asheville, NC; Europe or Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. In each of these locations, she finds challenging new subjects that stoke her artistic fire and bring creativity to her newest works when she eagerly returns home.

Kim Rody-Kopp has been a professional fine art painter since 2000, when she dropped out of the corporate world to paint full-time. She began gaining a following in South Florida and the Bahama Islands by painting large, colorful and dramatic canvases of fish, turtles, palm trees, and all things tropical, and became known over the last decade as the “fishartista”.

Living on her boat in Hope Town Harbour in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, she met and married the sailor on the next mooring, who introduced her to sailing on the Intracoastal Waterway, as well as a log cabin outside of Asheville, NC. among their many adventures.

Her work is appealing to clients looking for a dramatic, bright, and colorful feel which pulls the viewer in and under, into the world she loves best, and that few enjoy first-hand. This website showcases hundreds of images categorized by subject. In addition to original art, images are also available as limited editions on heavyweight watercolor paper, open editions on canvas, posters, note cards and holiday cards, and images kiln fired into quality bright white porcelain dinnerware.

Artist’s Statement

kim

I’ve always been connected to the sea. Since my very first painting classes, I concentrated on painting fish and other ocean life. Within a few years, I relocated from land-locked Dallas, TX, to Atlantic side Florida, and then to the Abacos in the Bahamas, where I spend eight months a year painting in my studio there.

I have evolved from fish, to other sea life, to Bahamian fauna, to Bahamian life. I also “paint where I am” – mountain landscapes in Asheville, NC, blue crabs on the Chesapeake in Maryland, and plein aire paintings when I visit Europe.

So, my subject matter tends to be the visual prompts that surround where I am.

My first approach to my subject matter was to accurately depict the anatomy of sea life. Then I was compelled to paint those creatures in relationship to each other (schools, flocks, groups). After twenty years of painting, I’m finding myself concentrating on the actual act of applying paint onto the canvas, “filling in the holes” and “finding the colors that belong with each other” rather than painting fish fins and turtle shells. I’m currently struggling with painting “unified” paintings using my favorite subject matter and focusing on contrast of light/dark, color composition and drama on the canvas.

For a virtual studio tour, CLICK HERE to make an appointment.
Come take a look in Kim’s Bahamian studio.

Do you want a peek in the warehouse?  CLICK HERE.
3371 SW 42 Ave, Unit B, Palm City, FL 34990

Are you interested in reselling Rody Creations?  CLICK HERE.

CONTACT:  by phone: 772-341-6566

                        by email: kim@rody.com

I was a cover girl in 2012!

 

 

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Artist Resume:

Exhibits
Abaco Inn Solo Show for Elbow Cay Lighthouse benefit, 2013-2020
Treasure Sands Club, “Women in the Arts” Feb 2019
Arts Council Martin County, FL February 2013 “Painting Her Way”
Seven Sisters Gallery, Black Mountain, NC 2012-2013
32 Broad Gallery, Brevard, NC 2012-2013
The Design Gallery, Burnsville, NC 2011-2013
Posana Café, Asheville, NC 2011-2012
Coconut Grove Gallery, Coconut Grove, FL February 2008 “Fish for the Sea”
Good Conscience Gallery, Southampton, NY July 2007
Elliot Museum Juried Group Show, Stuart, Florida February–March 2007
Art Source Gallery, Raleigh, NC January 2006 – present
Crabtree Creek Art and Floral Gallery, Burnsville, NC, March 2006-present
A.E. Backus Museum & Gallery “Power of the Palette” January, 2006
“Florida Flora and Fauna” exhibit, Elliott Museum, Stuart, FL 2006
Zafka Gallery, Jensen Beach 2004-present
A.E. Backus Gallery “Walk on the Wild Side” September-October 2003
Wet Paint Studio & Gallery, August 2003 – August 2005
Jan’s Antiques, Captiva Island March 2003 – June 2004
“Nude Nite” traveling exhibit: Tampa, Orlando and New Orleans 1/2003-3/2003
2nd Ave. Gallery, Delray, FL December 2002-December 2003
Red Bone Gallery, Islamorada, FL December 2002-present
Geoffrey C. Smith Galleries, Stuart, FL December 2002-April 2003
IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, Dania Beach, Florida “Kim Rody –
Marine Art” September 15 -December 12, 2002
ArtMerge Gallery, Dallas Texas “Beneath the Surface” September 21, 2001 –
October 7, 2001.
Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park Solo Exhibit 6/8/2000-9/15/2000
Eastfield College Solo Exhibit 2/28/2000-3/24/2000
Starbuck’s Coffee Solo Exhibit, Rockwall, TX February 2000
Daddy Jack’s Solo Exhibit, Dallas, TX 11/25-11/7/1999
Café Brazil Solo Exhibit, Dallas, TX 3/15-4/4/1999
Awards Cover Artist, Laurel of Asheville Magazine, August 2012
3rd Place Cash Award “Florida Flora & Fauna” exhibit, Elliot Museum, Stuart, FL 2005
Painting “Mondo Fern”
1st Place Cash Award Marine & Nautical Exhibit, Elliott Museum, Stuart, FL 2004
Painting “Plenty Snapper”
3rd Place Cash Award “Will the Real Florida Please Stand Up” juried Photo Show 2005
A.E.Backus Gallery, Ft. Pierce, FL
Featured Artist, Tri-County TEC’s 2005 Art for Living Calendar “Louanne’s Coconut Tree”
Finalist and Winner, Martin County Council for the Arts Poster Contest, 2004.Finalist and Winner, Dallas/Farmer’s Market Calendar Contest 2000. Painting,
“The Careful Shopper” was chosen for the City of Dallas’s Farmer’s Market
Calendar. Cash award was presented by Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk at city council
meeting to the artist and Eastfield College.
1st Place Cash Award Desoto Art League Show 2000 for painting “Oysters on
Half-Shell”
Shows
Surf Expo, twice yearly, 2015-2020
Altanta Gift Mart, twice yearly, 2015-2020
Coconut Grove Art Show, February 2007
Sunfest, Ocean City, Maryland September 2005
Art Expo, Atlanta, September 2005
Arts Council Stuart/Martin County Juried Show 2005
IGFA Invitation Tournament of Art, 2004, 2005
Abaco Art Festival, Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, yearly, 2001-2013
Harbour Lodge Art show, Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas, yearly, 2003- 2013
Treasure Cay Art Show, Abaco, Bahamas Summer 2003
Sailfish Marina Sunset Celebration, Singer Island, FL
Stuart ArtsFest 2003-2008 Stuart, FL
Montage, Dallas, TX 1999
Artfest, Dallas, TX 1999
Dallas Dive Exposition, slide presentation and show, 1999
Education Painting Classes: the Armoury, WPB; IRCC, Stuart, Florida; Southern Methodist
University, Dallas, TX; Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX .
1981-1983 – Texas A&M University, MBA, Business Administration,
College Station, TX
1977-1980 – Furman University, BA Double Major, Business and
Spanish, Greenville, SC. Finished four-year degree in three years
with double major. Lived and studied in Madrid, Spain for one term.
Experience
2015-present: large scale warehouse production firing Rody images onto
porcelain shapes, selling wholesale and retail.
2021 – winding down the dish business to get back to painting full time
Successful Kickstarter: $35000 crowdfunded to start dinnerware line
Owned and operated successful State Farm Franchise from 1985
to 2000. Retired August 2000 to paint full time.
Interests Swimming, PADI Divemaster, cooking, reading, fishing, living on sailboat in the
Bahamas, hunting and gathering own seafood, gardening, rebuilding house
destroyed in hurricane Dorian in Hope Town.