About the Book
A retrospective on the life and work of the gifted sculptor, Charles H. Forrester (1928-2010), reveals a man whose mind was in constant motion. His artwork spans six decades and is lavishly illustrated with commentary from art historians and contemporary artists.
A Mind in Motion: The Art of Charles H. Forrester offers an in-depth guide into the mind and artistic legacy of the artist. Curated by his daughter, Winifred, the book vividly presents more than eighty stunning images organized by ten distinct categories and five creative series of his most significant artwork. This richly visual coffee table book will appeal to art lovers everywhere. Forrester was the master of the visual pun and comes to life through his legacy -- sculptures, paintings and drawings, and journals. He was especially adept at working with the human figure, creating abstract figurative forms in materials ranging from welded steel to laminated-plywood. His engineering prowess was reflected in his kinetic sphere sculptures and wire suspension works. He captured startlingly realistic details, yet his works are highly stylized - often twisted into sly visual puzzles and riddles. The artist's large concrete outdoor sculptures across the United States and England are among his most well-known works, but he also created many smaller sculptures cast in bronze and aluminum. With roots in New York and the Pacific Northwest, and as a teacher for thirty years in England and Kentucky, Forrester's work directly impacted generations of sculptors and artists. His frequent sabbaticals and residencies in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas provided him inspiration for his life-long creativity. In 1998, Forrester and his wife, Dorothy, moved to East Nashville, where he maintained a studio up until his death in 2010. The late artist's sculptures have been exhibited nationwide, receiving numerous awards. Some of Forrester's more notable public artwork was commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce, Springfield, Oregon; Medford, Oregon public parks
; Shakespeare Memorial Theater in Ashland, Oregon; the Bundy Art Museum, Waitsfield, Vermont; Broughton High School, Salford, England; Bowling Green-Warren County, Kentucky Hospital; and Northern Telecom, Nashville, Tennessee Additional contributors to the book are:
John Forrester, son of Charles Forrester, Rome, Italy;
Russ Faxon, sculptor, Bell Buckle, TN;
Caroline Phillips, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon;
Sam Hunt, Adjunct Professor of Art, Western Kentucky University.
About the Author: Winifred Forrester, daughter of Charles Forrester, took early retirement in 2018 from her life-long career as a financial advisor to curate her father's artwork and journals, which spanned nearly 60 years of his life. She is executive producer for the short documentary,
A Line Unbroken: The Charles Forrester Story, premiering in Fall 2020. Forrester is a long-time resident of Nashville, Tennessee, where she advocates for the revitalization of historical neighborhoods and green spaces. As a community organizer, she fuels her passion to return power to ordinary people. Forrester co-founded the Haynes-Trinity Neighborhood Coalition and serves on the board of League of Women Voters Nashville, TennGreen Land Conservancy's finance and investment committee, and the Metro-Nashville Industrial Development Board.
A Mind in Motion: The Art of Charles H. Forrester is her first book. Guy Jordan (Ph.D. in Art History, University of Maryland, 2007) is an Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art at Western Kentucky University, where he teaches courses in WKU's Art History and Brewing and Distilling Arts and Sciences programs. His writing on topics such as Thomas Cole, Charles Deas, and the roles of food and drink in American art has appeared in the journals
American Art, Panorama, and
Visual Resources. Joe Nolan is an art and film critic and intermedia artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. His writing about contemporary art has appeared in
Art America, Flaunt, Burnaway, Number, Nashville Scene, and
The Contributor. Nolan is a freelance arts reporter for WPLN, Nashville Public Radio. His award-winning writing about homelessness, poverty, veterans' issues and human rights has been translated into German, Slovak and Greek, and published around the world. Nolan is also an East Nashville music pioneer and a visual artist/curator whose work has been exhibited throughout the Southeast.
