William Forrestall's Art Triple Header

My older brother, William, who makes his home in the big old Victorian house we grew up in, on University Avenue in Fredericton, New Brunswick, has been very busy lately. Taking on a mammoth amount of openings and launches, William has been working away on a new body of paintings, organizing a museum show of his work with a book, and is gearing up for a panel lecture on portraiture, all to happen starting tonight and unfolding over the next two weeks.  
First up: William Forrestall - Exhibition/book: New Brunswick Museum, opening Friday, November 6th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at the New Brunswick Exhibition Center in Saint John, New Brunswick. 
Next a gallery exhibition to go along with the museum show: William Forrestall feature: Peter Buckland Gallery, November second to tenth. And finally tonight, a lecture Back Talk presents: The Making of Portraits, (guest speaker) Friday, October 30 at the Imprint Book store at 16 King Street  in Saint John, NB. If anyone is New Brunswick in November, try to take in one of his events. 

Renee Forrestall's Icon of St Peter goes on display

The Icon of Saint Peter for St. Peter's Church
My sister, Renee Forrestall was commissioned by St. Peter's church in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia to create an icon of St. Peter's, and after months of meetings, and sketches and research the finished Icon of St. Peter was unveiled at St.Peter's Church at the morning mass on October 25th, 2009. My sister Renee, has been creating icons for many years for herself, for exhibitions and some other commissions. (She even gave me an small Icon one year as a birthday present).  She became intrigued by iconography after seeing so many extraordinary examples on our family's month long trip to Rome for Holy Year in 1975. Many years later, she studied the process and techniques of Iconography with Brother Roman, a monk in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wanting to get more technical information, she purchased a set of how-to-videos from the Prosopone School of Iconography in Whitney Point, NY and used these to hone the technical side. The materials Renee used are egg tempera paint and gold leaf on gessoed wooden panels. Not satisfied with colors that exist, Renee went the extra step to create her own brilliant, more metallic blue and green pigments for this Icon by crushing Izrite and Malachite stones.  The church board who hired Renee to create this Icon have been familiar with her work for many years, as my sister makes St. Peter's a regular destination for worship. Their thoughts on why they commissioned this Icon:

"When we enter St. Peter’s Church we are able to see many artistic signs and symbols that help us to pray by directing our hearts and our minds attention toward Christ. Holy images draw our attention toward our Savior, reminding us that we are not alone, and that we are part of a Church that spans both Heaven and Earth.  That is the purpose of our new icon of St. Peter, patron of our parish community." Renee further points out ," Prayer and contemplation envelop each phase of the icon writing process and the process is very much a spiritual journey between God and the iconographer." Some of the symbols seen in the icon are a fishing net, referring to St. Peter's daily work as a fisherman and a set of keys, referencing the keys of the kingdom. For years to come Renee's Icon of St. Peter, will be proudly on display in the church, and will hopefully inspire the parishioners and visitors. 

Additionally professionally produced signed reproductions, mounted on wood blocks in three sizes (small: $35, medium: $60 and Large: $85) will be available as a gift for a donation to the church soon. (http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/religion/StPeters/)

Back to School: A Forrestall Family Figure Drawing Session

This week some of my family went back to school! To brush up on their figure drawing and enjoy some fam time (we all really LOVE to be together) my dad, Tom Forrestall, my sister Renee (who teaches anatomy at NSCAD) and my brother Frank, who owns an animation studio went to a regular weekly Monday night faculty figure drawing session at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design on October 26th.  The figure drawing sessions are organized by a faculty member for other faculty and board members, and she charges $10 per person to pay for the models.  Renee got to work using water soluble oil pastels, Frank chose water soluble drawing pencils for his figure interpretations and dad worked in pen and ink. Dad's drawing of multiple figures is actually the same model, seen from many angles. During one pose, dad sketched the model, then moved to another area of the room and sketched the model again on the same piece of paper and then moved again. They did some beautiful work don't you think?

Tom Forrestall creates a print for the 50th Anniversary of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery

Recently my dad, Tom Forrestall, was asked by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to create a lithograph to commemorate their 50th anniversary this year. Dad's history with the Beaverbrook goes back 50 years, when he took a job working as an assistant to the curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. It was dad's first job after graduating from college and marrying our mother, Natalie. He has very fond memories of those early days of the museums history, and the support he got working there from the staff, and from Lord Beaverbrook himself. Dad traveled to Moncton, New Brunswick to work with a master print maker there, Jacques Arsenault, who has a small, yet very specialized studio for the creation of lithographs. It was the first lithograph dad had done in 25 years. The last lithographs dad  created in Rome,while  visiting there with our mom. He had very fond memories of the process of working with these talented and technically savvy printmakers. The image of the print is of the Beaverbrook Art gallery with a conceptual addition of a watching eye, meaning to represent the museum being under the watchful eye of its founder Lord Beaverbrook. The prints are to be sold to help raise funds for the museum. ($1000. each; http://www.beaverbrookartgallery.org/main-e.asp).

Marie meets the Guerilla Girls

My beautiful and talented 19-year old niece Marie Webb, oldest grandchild of Tom Forrestall, loves art. Now in the 12th grade, Marie is very involved in a Halifax, Nova Scotia based art program "Team Possibles", which her mom (my younger sister), Renee Forrestall runs. It's an organization founded for local Halifax teens who have Downs syndrome so they can get together, socialise and create films, books and artwork of all, sorts both individually and as a team.
       On September 18th, 2009, Marie and her mom Renee travelled to Wolfville, Nova Scotia to see the Guerilla Girls who were giving a talk at Acadia University. Marie had forgotten her glasses, so she and her mom went early so that she could get a front row seat in order to see everything. Marie's mom, my sister, Renee, said, "Marie was interested to learn how the Guerilla Girls help other artists, especially women artists. She was very excited to meet with them, get their autographs...and a banana".

Here are some of the links to Marie and the rest of the Team Possible team (and Renee's) amazing art, writing and film projects. This term, Fall 2009, they are creating zines, which they will share with family, friends and the community through a local Zine Collective: Anchor Archive. Marie (and Team Possibles) rocks!

http://teampossibles.blogspot.com/

http://teemzine.blogspot.com/

Lord Grinner

And another illustration "Lord Grinner" by my brother, Frank Forrestall.

Frank's Fantastical Fables

                                                                     "Sword of the Well"
My younger brother Frank Forrestall is an amazing animation artist with an artists agency, Forrestall Studio ( http://www.forrestallstudio.com/home.php) that he recently founded. While negotiating deals for other artists whose work he represents, Frank continues to find time to develop his own story ideas. He talks a bit about his inspiration for his latest installment of his Willow Wind series. 

"In this illustration, Willow has just fallen for the Hag's trap! She thought that taking the sword would give her an easy solution to the problem of the Nine Sisters; but as she grasps the sword from the well the 9th Sister emerges cackling with delight. The sword will be fused to Willow's hand until she completes the hag's long and dangerous quest", explains Frank.

"These are characters and situations from stories that I would tell my oldest daughter, Gwen at bedtime", elaborates Frank. "The stories were made up on the fly so I don't remember a lot of detail but I borrowed heavily from folklore and fairytales from the 'color' fairy books. Some recurring characters were the hero of the story Willow Wind, her spirit horse Silver Stream and the villainous 9 Sisters each with a number of horns on their head to indicate their position in the family. At the moment, I'm working on an image of Willow Wind and her horse as they escape from their Aunt's castle, which will probably take a few days to complete".

Through his Art studio, Forrestall Studio, Frank works on promoting and selling the work of several other talented Maritime provinces based artists, which include his brothers Curphey, William and his sister, Renee.