Rody Kenny Courtice was born Roselyn Kenny in Renfrew, Ontario, on August 30, 1891, to Bernard Carroll Kenny and Margaret Tierney. She inherited her artistic talent from her father, a tile mason, and from an early age showed an interest in drawing and painting.

 

In 1920, at the age of twenty, Rody Kenny began studying art at the Ontario College of Art under Arthur Lismer, G.A. Reid, and J.E.H. MacDonald. In 1924, she travelled through Europe by bicycle with fellow artists Kathleen Daly and Yvonne McKague. While there, she attended classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and also studied in London. In 1926, she married for a second time (her first husband, Mr. Hammond, had been killed in the First World War) and lived in Chicago, where her husband, Roy Courtice, worked as a lawyer. She took courses at the Art Institute of Chicago, including studying puppets and stagecraft under Tony Sarg. On their return to Canada, the Courtices purchased a home in Markham that included a separate stone building that became their studio. During the winters, they rented a furnished flat in Toronto. Throughout the 1930s, Courtice worked as an assistant instructor with Arthur Lismer, teaching Saturday morning children's classes at the Art Gallery of Toronto.  In 1950 she attended Hans Hofmann's summer school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Courtice is listed as assistant librarian in the Ontario College of Art's prospectus of 1923-1924 while she was still a student there. She also acted as assistant instructor until 1927, teaching at the college's Port Hope summer school, as well as teaching at the Doon School of Art and Teacher's Summer Course with John Alford.  Her subject matter varied from landscape and animals, filtered through her lively imagination. Courtice often worked with the idea of scale in her work, painting small things - animals, games, toys, or plants - in poetic terms. Her paintings suggest to the viewer larger issues than mere representation; she sought to articulate her times in art.  In about 1942, Courtice began to paint abstractly.  Rody Kenny Courtice died of cancer at the age of eighty-two on December 6, 1973, Toronto 

1922-1923 scholarship in applied design, Ontario College of Art

1924-1925 post-graduate scholarship, Ontario College of Art

1932-1933 president, Heliconian Club, Toronto

1937-1967 member, Canadian Group of Painters; served on the board in 1945, 1947-1948, and 1954-1955.

Associate member, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Full member, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Member, Ontario Society of Artists

Member, Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour Member, Canadian Society of Graphic Artists

Member, Federation of Canadian Artists; served as president of the Ontario region from 1945 to 1946