Zoda Brings Art to Fenton and Beyond

Sitting in an ordinary ranch home transformed with a wild blue paint job—on the floor—and bathed in natural sunlight, is Zoda. With her tousled hair and sunny smile, Zoda looks like she just drifted into town on a island breeze.

It’s not too far from the fact. Zoda spent 22 years in Jamaica, where she used her artistic talents to design interiors for hotels, restaurants, night clubs and even a museum for Bob Marley.

Zoda’s real name is Nancy Przygoda. She picked up the easier to pronounce nickname years ago by co-workers and she happily allowed that name to stick. She grew up in Jefferson County, not far from Arnold, but left to pursue a career in design. She’s back now, to be closer to her grown children and her soon to arrive granddaughter.

“I landed in Jamaica due to a job. It’s a small country, so you can be a big fish in a little pond,” she said. She includes twenty hotel design gigs on her resume, all from major chains. When she first decided to return to the states she took a job in Arizona working for an advertising company.

“I’m a blue sky person,” she said, meaning that she is the sort of artist to dream up the big ideas for a new ad campaign or product design.

She’s back to working for herself now, and has opened a home studio in Fenton where she displays her art. Her works are mostly paintings but also includes sculpture and painting furniture. She works in many styles, from bright tropical inspired oils to shimmery egg temperas of holy subjects done in the style of Renaissance greats. She’s also working on illustrations for a children’s book and shows off a pile of paper birds she constructed to hang from branches for a baby’s nursery. She has an idea for a fortune telling game and a line of greeting cards.

Zoda is opening “” to bring design and color into the lives of her customers. She said that Midwesterners surround themselves with way too much brown. She has a “no job is too big or too small” mentality, listing services from painting a mural for a baby’s room, redecorating your living room or planning a design for a wedding. And of course, she also sells her paintings.

“There isn’t anything I can’t do,” she said with a smile.

ZodasArt is open by appointment only. If you’re interested in purchasing her works or commissioning a new project, contact Zoda at 520-777-1659.