Rodney Demps
Rodney Demps
(1953−2020)
Indian River
H: 29” W: 40 ¾”
Acquired in 2010
Rodney Demps was born and raised in Fort Pierce. When he was in the seventh grade, Alfred Hair’s wife picked him up from school and took him to the artist’s studio, where he cut and prepared Upson boards for painting. Hair taught him how to mix the oils and paint the skies and to make the horizon lines for the paintings. Later, after high school, he painted with Sam Newton. Demps graduated from Florida A&M University and later taught high school in Fort Pierce, Tallahassee, and Palm Beach, but he never forgot his education in Hair’s studio. He continued to create paintings for the rest of his life.
