ABOUT
Kim Rody is a professional fine artist known for her bold, expressive, and brilliantly colorful underwater paintings. After running her own State Farm agency in Texas for several years, she made a dramatic life change in 2000 to pursue art full-time. Trading insurance policies for paintbrushes, she moved first to South Florida, and eventually to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas, where she is now based and paints for much of the year.
Early on, she lived aboard a moored boat in Hopetown Harbour, where she met and married a fellow sailor—an adventure that added richness to her life and artistic inspiration. Her first paintings focused on the anatomy of sea creatures—fish, turtles, and ocean creatures brought to life with a vibrant energy and intuitive detail. Over time, her style evolved into something more expressive and dynamic, driven by color, rhythm, and feeling.
“At first, I painted what I saw. Then I painted what I knew. Now, I paint how it feels,” Kim explains. “I care deeply about the sea life and island fauna I’m painting. While I still value form and balance, I’m increasingly drawn to the physical act of painting—the movement, the layering, the contrast of light and dark, and the emotional energy that emerges on the canvas.”
She became known as the “Fishartista,” and her artwork gained a devoted following. Her vivid paintings have been printed on everything from puzzles and dishes to notecards and textiles, and collected by ocean lovers, art buyers, retail store owners, and designers alike.
After Hurricane Dorian destroyed her Hopetown home in 2019, Kim entered a multi-year period of rebuilding and realignment. The devastation brought new clarity: a return to her roots as a painter, with less focus on mass production and more on creating exceptional one-of-a-kind works.
Though now based primarily in the Bahamas, Kim continues to paint wherever she goes. Over eight years of summers spent in a North Carolina mountain cabin, she created an entire series of mountain landscapes. During several summers on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, she painted its unique scenery and iconic blue crabs. She’s also enjoyed a few plein air jaunts through Europe, producing a handful of works inspired by her travels abroad.
Her collectors are drawn to the luminous color, intensity, and immersive quality of her paintings—work that pulls you into the world beneath the surface, whether it be the sea or something more internal.
“Kim Rody’s road to art sounds like the plot for a romantic comedy or the lyrics to a country song…” — Seth Hopkins, Executive Director, Booth Western Art Museum
While Kim prefers to let her art speak for itself, she appreciates the support of curators and collectors alike. Her studio in the Bahamas is open by appointment, and her work is available as originals, giclées, and select porcelain dinnerware pieces.
Artist’s Statement
I’ve always felt connected to the sea. Since my very first painting classes, I’ve been drawn to fish and marine life. Over time, I expanded to include other Bahamian subjects—palm trees, birds, boats, and the rhythms of life around me. I also paint wherever I go: mountain vistas from summers in North Carolina, plein air landscapes in Europe, and coastal scenes and crabs along the Chesapeake Bay.
In the early years, I was obsessed with accuracy, making sure every fin and scale was correct. Later, I explored how sea creatures relate to each other: how they swim in schools, scatter, hide, or shimmer in unison. Now, my focus is on the act of painting itself—on color, contrast, unity, and emotional resonance. I’m trying to make paintings that aren’t just of the ocean, but of what it feels like to be there.
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!
CLICK Here to read the article
Artist Resume:
Exhibits
Red Bluff Gallery “Save our Planet 2025”
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.