Carolyn E. Hodges

Carolyn Ellen Hodges, known artistically as Carolyn “Bertrand” Hodges, passed away on April 26, 2025, in Houston, Texas, at age 98, her death attributed to her advanced years. Born on January 18, 1927, in Houston to Lillie Fitzsimmons and Charles Belford Hodges, Carolyn was a lifelong artist whose work spanned representational, abstract, and contemporary styles, reflecting the world with a modern sensibility.

Carolyn’s passion for art ignited early. While attending Mirabeau B. Lamar High School (graduating 1944), she studied at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, under Robert C. Joy, who introduced her to modern masters like Van Gogh and Matisse. After high school, she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, with a grant. In the 1970s, Carolyn lived in New York City, working as a freelance artist-illustrator, exploring metaphysics, and later embracing Buddhism. She illustrated a book for Dodd, Mead Books for Young Readers (1975).

Carolyn exhibited widely from the 1950s to 2000s, including the 13th Annual Texas Painting & Sculpture Exhibition (1950s) and the Art Rental Collection at the Contemporary Arts Museum. Her work appeared in the San Diego Art Guild Exhibition (1960s) and Houston’s juried shows like the Houston Area Women’s Center Exhibition (1992) and Annual Visual Arts Alliance Exhibitions (2000, 2001). She traveled to study, notably in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (1955), absorbing Mayan and Aztec influences. Later solo exhibitions included Serrano Gallery (2019), Happy Fatz (2015), and Urban Eats (2023). Initially trained in oils, she favored colored inks on watercolor paper in later years, creating intricate designs. Her art, likened to jazz, explored space-age themes, as she noted, “We are living in a space age. Might we, as artists, become like astronauts ... space explorers!”

Carolyn was outspoken, passionate, and humorous—vowing to “die with a paintbrush in her hand.” She believed in reincarnation, planning to be a sculptor in her next life, and voiced concerns about climate change. She self-published a book on her evolving styles, leaving a website, www.carolynbertrandhodges.art, to preserve her legacy.

Carolyn was predeceased by her parents, siblings Charles Belford Hodges Jr. and Louise Edwina Hodges McEowen, and nephew Dale, who supported her deeply before his passing in 2022. She is survived by nephews Ed and Bob, nieces Diane, Gayle, and Linda, and grandnieces and grandnephews.

Memorials may be given to Operation Smile or Houston Arts Alliance.

The family of Carolyn wishes to extend our sincere thanks to those who befriended Carolyn in her later years, specifically David Behrman, Mitch Cohen, Carrie Olsen, and all her other beloved artist friends.

No public service is scheduled.