Meet the Team: This is Kinsey
It is with great pleasure and a full heart that I greet you today. I am the lucky storyteller assigned the task of capturing the stories of the lovely humans driving the big painted colorful bus of Tampa Bay.
NOMADstudio (NOMAD) is an organization dedicated to bringing art into community places and spaces simply because every single person deserves access to art. The founder and ever-evolving collection of artists behind NOMAD are creating the world I want to live in.
It is with a dash of luck and deep appreciation I find myself here on the digital page to tell the story of NOMAD. Or rather, the people of NOMAD.
This story begins like many do, in a shared smile between people talking about something they love. It is through conversation, curiosity, and community that NOMAD came into existence.
This organization is the result of love, imagination, and action sitting down at the same table. Many hands, hearts, and shared questions have played an essential role in co-creating NOMAD.
The folks who have built and kept this organization running are some of the most radical humans, storytellers, and creative guardians of our community. It’s made up of people who understand the ability to express and connect are two of the most important skills for human beings.
What you can expect in these profiles: a teammates' origin story, their favorite art forms and mediums, and how they rest and recharge. My favorite questions include their dreams for the future and their NOMAD nugget(s). (A nugget: a meaningful moment one carries with them as they live and co-create in this creative community.)
I warmly introduce, Kinsey Rodriquez ~
Title: Programs Director
Pronouns: she/they
Origin story with NOMAD:
The story begins with Kinsey replanting her feet in Tampa Bay after finishing a master's program in art therapy. She was navigating the challenge of finding meaningful value aligned work that didn’t suck her soul with systematic bureaucracy.
As she contemplated career options outside of the clinical world, she found herself at an art event at a local museum in downtown St. Peterburg. This is where Kinsey meets Carrie. The creative sparks were flying once these two artists discovered their shared deep love of social practice art. (social practice art: any type of art that engages community and contributes to positive changes for the collective.)
The magic continues once Kinsey learns about the art organization Carrie founded (hint: it’s NOMAD!) Kinsey started to volunteer at events where visitors can pick up a paint brush and beautify the exterior and the wheels of the NOMAD Art Bus.
As time passed, Kinsey and Carrie kept brewing in the magic that is social practice art and developed more arts programming, like free MicroCamps in neighborhoods that came out of lessons from the pandemic. This programming has become the bread and butter of what NOMAD brings into our community. It’s roughly seven years later, and Kinsey continues to wield her art therapy expertise and creative passions with the NOMAD crew as Programs Director.
Artforms & Mediums
Kinsey is a mixed media artist whose curiosity catapults her into new projects depending on the vibe. They identify as a “jack of all trades and expert of none.”
Her curiosity is limitless, but understandably her capacity is limited. Like so many creative minds in the 21st century, Kinsey juggles burnout alongside her creative bursts.
Their creative sessions can look like anything, ranging from times when she is hunched over a desk meticulously layering scraps of paper and magazine images into a collage to customizing retro cellphones with etched mirrors.
NOMAD Nugget
The moment Kinsey carries in her heart is from an everyday moment. She was talking to her neighbor JJ, a MicroCamper, about a painting he once made in her MicroCamp that still hangs in his family’s living room years later….
Since 2020, Kinsey has facilitated a MicroCamp in her own neighborhood in partnership with NOMAD’s Studio On The Block program. This program brings art experiences directly into neighborhoods where children already gather and play. Half a decade later, she’s witnessed countless kids grow up, while also creating the neighborhood norm that free art camp exists outside their front door.
Kinsey is the weird {wicked cool} art lady that is ready to chitchat. The kids in her neighborhood know they can rely on her for safe and free art making on a regular basis. Recently, an older kid, JJ, stopped by to say hello to Kinsey and her pup, Royce.
They naturally started reminiscing on awesome art projects they had done together. Kinsey asked about his favorites to bring back to new campers. And he immediately threw out origami and painting ideas.
The co-brainstorming session took JJ to a memory of a painting he made when he was small at Kinsey’s camp. He started describing the painting in detail, listing all the colors he had used on the canvas. What Kinsey learn was that this painting earned a permanent location in his home.
This conversation reminded Kinsey that it isn’t simply sitting down to make art on the street. This shared time together really meant something to them. JJ’s creation is now a family memory that has expanded far beyond a single weekend morning art gathering outside.
Rest & Recharge Rituals
Kinsey taps into the superpowers of neurodivergence and leans into structure to accomplish beautiful things. A mandatory 1-hour beach trip at least once a month is Kinsey’s preferred reset and recharge ritual.
One hour is the perfect amount of time for Kinsey to complete the following: stroll the beach, take a swim, and get the right amount of sunshine dosage they need. Important to note, the time allotment is also intentional because it’s a short enough trip that no snacks or heavy-duty beach gear is required.
Another option Kinsey uses to recharge is to retreat to a cozy space nestled in their home. A moment where she can access some much-needed peace and quiet.
Her final ritual, and possibly the most transformative tip to recharge, is building in transition time between the different components of a busy day.
It’s easy as the oldest daughter in a Latin household to stay busy and performing at top speed, but with practice Kinsey has been giving herself the buffer periods needed for the body and brain to really thrive.
Kinsey’s Dream of the Future
When Kinsey sees the future, it looks like gentrification has completely halted. When she steps outside in her neighborhood, the people she cares about are able to pass down their homes for generations. Families aren’t pushed out. Her dream world is slowing down. There is way less obsession with technology and an abundance of social change blossoming.
This is a future that Kinsey works each day to align her actions and values with. Her work with NOMAD is one way she offsets the everyday violence creeping into our community. She looks honestly at the world we have so that she is able to help nourish connection and creativity in young minds, as they will be leading the future.
On her way to this world, she practices pausing to find glimmers of hope for happier and healthier communities.
Welcome to the NOMAD Universe
This was only ONE of the five humans who bring the core of NOMAD programming to life.
Keep in touch with NOMAD and join our newsletter. There are a million good reasons to sign-up, but for now you should sign up to get to know the entire NOMAD team!
I’ll be gleefully introducing the other core team members over the coming moons, and you won’t want to miss out on their magic! Additionally, our newsletter is free and jam-packed with creative joy and opportunities to support our work and get involved!
NOMAD was born from community helping hands, and true to our roots, community is still our lifeline.