Forrest Greenslade has lived in Fearrington Village for almost 17 years. A retired Microbiologist, Forrest has the mind of a scientist and the lightness of heart of a child. You will experience all of this when you visit him in his studio during “The 25th Chatham Studio Tour.” He began sculpting in 2001 while recovering from a massive heart attack. It seems Forrest was watching Martha Stewart make garden pots with cement, peat moss and water on TV. “It was crazy,” he said. “I had all the ingredients to make my first art piece. And all of a sudden I had someone looking back at me!”
After that first exciting encounter with ‘hands on creating’ Forrest looked to many local artists for inspiration and mentoring. He then expanded to carving wood and also learned metalwork at Central Carolina Community College.
“My daughter is a real artist,” he explains, “she graduated from Parson’s School of Design.” She gave her dad a canvas and a basic set of acrylic paints in 2007. Thus began Forrest’s exploration into painting. Fellow Chatham Guild artist Emma Skurnick schooled this biologist in the area of design and introduced him to watercolors. “After all these years,” Forrest says, ”I don’t know if I am a real painter yet… but I like to tell a story.”
The scientist in him enjoys experimentation and the artist adores exploring materials. But his real gift is that he NEVER fears mistakes. “I have no fear what-so-ever!” That and his disciplined approach to the making of art seven days a week has filled his home and garden with his creations. They even stretch out past his property into the adjoining public spaces in Fearrington Village.
You will find many two and three-dimensional artworks for indoors and outdoors at a variety of price points for every budget at Organic Forrestry Studio located at 149 Tinderwood in Pittsboro, NC. Forrest will humbly share that it took him four attempts before he was invited to join the guild. “The Guild is a wonderful organization filled with friendly competition, peer-review and cooperation. It is great to be part of this community.”
A visit with Forrest never disappoints! Make sure to explore his wonderland first two weekends in December.
