rod tryon

This is Rod Tryon’s 35th year street painting. He visited the inaugural “I Madonnari Street Painting Festival” in Santa Barbara, CA (the first street painting festival ever held in the US.) and knew it was something you had to do. He has participated in the Santa Barbara festival 29 times including appearing as the featured artist in 1993 and 2010.

Rod has also been featured in numerous other street painting events worldwide - In 2003, Rod was invited to join 11 other featured artists in San Rafael, CA to recreate the entire Sistine Chapel ceiling in half size. In 2005 he created a piece in Monterrey, Mexico and also joined a team of artists to create a piece for the Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival in Hong Kong. In 2009, Rod created four street paintings in conjunction with a festival in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In 2017 Rod traveled to Cairo, Egypt to create some street paintings for the grand opening of The Mall of Egypt.

Rod also does street paintings for special events. He has created paintings for the Lynx Toyota Atlantic racing team, the Kinko’s Kawasaki Motorcycle racing team, Kinko’s Corporate conventions, a documentary film and book entitled “Life Beyond Earth” created for PBS television, and one of his pieces was featured in the music video “Kissin’ U” by Miranda Cosgrove.

Rod grew up in Shartlesville, PA (a small rural town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country). In 1977 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts / Advertising degree from Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA. In 1979 he moved to Santa Cruz, CA where he became the graphics artist for the Northwest Division of Kinko’s Copies. In 1986 he moved to Santa Barbara, CA after being promoted to National Art Director for Kinko’s Corporate office in Ventura, CA

Rod now lives in Santa Barbara, CA