Sarasota artist lives the life aquatic

“Tom Stephens: Echoes of Color” plunges the viewer into the artist’s body work at Ringling College of Art and Design. His paintings range from abstractions to seascapes, but they’re all oceans of energy, both literal and metaphorical. They evoke what the French author, Romain Rolland, called the “oceanic feeling” — a sense of limitless being and connection to all life.

Stephens’ “Fish Soup — Full Moon Tarpon” (2024) depicts a turbulent school of tarpon under a full moon’s spotlight. The teeming fish swim right at you, mouths open. Their churning bodies cut through the seafoam in fragments of color and motion lines. It’s a tidal dance of strangely euphoric power.

“Little Bayou #1” (2025) is a bayou — or the memory of a bayou. An electric blue ribbon cuts through the scene like liquid lightning. The world around it is either coming together or falling apart. Neon droplets fall like multicolored candy.

“Super Moon” (2025) shatters the night like a circular rip in the sky. The ghostly landscape below flickers at the edge of abstraction. Feathery greens, chalky whites and ethereal blues suggest a river at high tide cascading through a wilderness.

Paintings aren’t the only product of Stephens’ hands on display here. You’ll also see fishing rods. Seriously. “I started building rods as soon as I started fishing,” he says. “My dad made my first custom fishing rod, and I was hooked. I designed them all, from the cork handles to their colorful thread work. I love the technique, the process, and how they’ve taken off. Creating them never gets old.”

Why this obsession with the life aquatic?

The artist’s work is inseparable from who he is.

Stephens is a Florida native, a Ringling College alumnus, a Sarasota-based visual artist, a woodworker and a charter boat captain. He got his captain’s license in 1997 — the same year he graduated with a fine arts degree.

Ringling College Chief Curator Tim Jaeger curated this exhibition. “Tom was born in Cocoa Beach,” he says. “The big sky and the rhythms of the ocean had a huge impact on his artistic imagination. It’s in his DNA.”

Stephens agrees. And adds that fishing is also a family affair.

“I still have my first tackle box,” he says. “My uncle gave it to me when I was a kid. My whole family — mom, dad, aunts, uncles and cousins — have been fishing for decades in Florida and throughout the Southeast. And I’ve fished all over Florida for fresh and saltwater species, too.”

Along with providing fish, the sea also gave lessons. A boat on the water needs to go with the flow; a good captain needs sharp situational awareness and be in the moment.

Stephens applies that mindfulness when he puts on his captain’s hat for a fishing charter. That also holds true for his painting process. He takes a spontaneous approach — it’s go-with-the-flow, not analytical.

Courtesy image

“I paint in a series of layers — one element above another,” he says. “With each layer, the painting changes. It might turn into a landscape or become abstract. I don’t know where I’m going until I get there. I’m process-oriented, and I try to stay open-minded.”

The artist doesn’t compartmentalize between fine art, fishing and life itself.

 “I’ve been a creative person my whole life," he says. “I started painting in third grade, but I bring the same mind-set to everything I do. Fishing, woodwork, whatever — to me it’s all creative.”

Creativity is also integral to Stephens’ marriage. He met his wife, Beth Noble, in 1994, when she was majoring in computer animation at Ringling College. She’s since made a name for herself as a graphic designer. 

“We married in 2001,” he recalls. “Beth now runs the business side and I do the hands-on work of making my art. We have an amazing meeting of the minds.”

Art is at the heart of Stephens’ creative life. Life is also at the heart of his art. His paintings evoke the life force energy of the wild world. They also speak to the fragility of the web of life.

“I grew up in the country in Tallahassee under all these giant trees,” he says. “That gave me a real connection to nature in my paintings — it always creeps back in, sometimes unconsciously. It’s there in my underwater imagery and my landscapes. I’m so inspired by nature — I just can't get away from it.”