Just Paint, It Ain't

Kim Howes Zabbia, a lifelong resident of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, is an author, artist and teacher. With a B.A. in English and Journalism from Southeastern Louisiana University and an M.F.A. in Studio Art from Louisiana State University, Zabbia retired in 2007 from Ponchatoula High School to open The Art Station, an art school for adults, in downtown. Since its opening, The Art Station has taken in over 4,000 registrations for classes and received the Innovator of the Year Award from N.O. City Business magazine. Zabbia has had 24 solo exhibitions since 1990. Currently represented by Ariodante Gallery on Julia Street in New Orleans and the New Orleans Art Center, Zabbia was honored with a 24-year Retrospective exhibit at the Pensacola Museum of Art in 2014. Author of Painted Diaries: a Mother and Daughter's Experience through Alzheimer's (Fairview Press, 1996), Zabbia delivered forty lectures around the country, including the Byron D. Griffith Memorial Lecture at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and served on the Louisiana Governor's Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. Kim is married to Bob Zabbia, Ponchatoula's Mayor since 2004, and they have one daughter and son-in-law, Kate and JD Stuart, and three grands, Maggie, Alice-Anne and Sam.