Patricia Rhoden Bartels is both an artist and art instructor with more than 40 years’ experience. Her extensive art education includes a Masters of Art (MA) and a Masters of Fine Art (MFA). She attended the Toledo Museum School of Design, Bowling Green State University and the University of Hawaii.

Rhoden, as she is known in the art world, has paintings acquired for permanent art museum collections across the nation including: Birmingham, Alabama, Indianapolis, Indiana and Fort Wayne, Indiana. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious grants and awards including the National Endowment of the Humanities Foundation, Fulbright–Hayes Foundation, and Eli Lilly Endowment Foundation. A highly sought after artist, Patricia's works can be seen hanging in major corporations and private collections, including Eli Lilly, Indiana University, Indiana University Kelly School of Business and J.D. Byrider.

She has won numerous awards, and her work is part of permanently collections at the Indiana State Museum, the Evansville Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham Al.

Painting both en plein air and in her studio, Patricia’s oil and acrylic paintings celebrate the exceptional beauty of nature inspired by living deep in the woods and rugged hills of Brown County, Indiana. Her award winning paintings record her observations of seasonal changes with vivid and passionate expressions color. Patricia’s loose slashing brush stokes give rise to a form of sensual movement carrying the eye across the canvas. Rhoden’s impasto brush work and palette knife techniques create textural touches of intense color vibrations. Focusing on changes in light and atmosphere, Rhoden’s goal is to create and experience, capturing a moment in time for the observer.

Latest Art

All of our artists are available at the

Historic Brown County Art Gallery