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ABOVE President Barack Obama in Forrest’s “Facing Humanity, Individuals Around the World,” as well as part of a recent work, “Herpetotany,” a mythical chimera of reptiles, amphibians and plants. ABOVE RIGHT “Centered” was made with a welded steel armature, concrete and bronze patina.
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I had never actually entertained the notion of creating art of my own.” That is, until one day when he and Carol-Ann were having lunch and half-watching a design show on TV when Martha Stewart started making a pot out of cement and peat moss. “I went out into the potting shed where I had some cement [and peat moss],” Forrest says. “I created a face. It was just looking back at me, and it was just kind of an amazing thing. Just staring right at me.” Forrest connected with a Carrboro art gallery owner and asked for her opinion of his first attempt. “And she said, ‘I like it,’” Forrest says. “And she was willing to sell my work. So, just like that, I was a professional sculptor. Serendipity.” He has published art books and still works primarily in cement, peat moss, acrylic, metal (thanks to metal and ceramics sculpture programs at Central Carolina Community College) and his oeuvre has expanded from his initial bas-relief works to painting to full three-dimensional sculptural renderings. This is, he believes, the nexus of his scientific training and his artistic bent. “I may be a tiny bit strange in that regard,” he says. “I can flip back and forth between deductive and inductive thinking. My scientific background totally dominates my art. I have to think my way through the engineering of a threedimensional structure so that it’s not going FEBRUARY / MARCH 2021
to fall down. This is a blend of thinking of an art piece like an engineer – for example, how can I use a new material in a totally different way?” The Greenslades’ home and gardens serve as an entrancing gallery for his work and, to be honest, for much of their world. They have an attached apartment above his studio – the Artist’s Garret – they rent via Airbnb, and it is almost exclusively rented by visiting artists. “These three things are synergistic: the garden, the art and the garret,” Forrest says. “They all work together. And we’ve made good friends from all around the world that we’ve met through the Artist’s Garret.” CM
CHECK IT OUT The Greenslades welcome visitors to the studio, galleries and sculpture gardens. As a result, the Forrest Dweller Sculpture Garden has become a popular destination. To visit: Send an email to forrest@organicforrestry.com or call 919-545-9743. Learn more at organicforrestry.com.