Nantucket, MA FORREST RODTS A Love of the Sea
Forrest Rodts has the sea in his blood. His family was among the early settlers of the island of Nantucket and he summered there at the family home that had been built by a whaling captain. He lives in Marblehead on the coast of Massachusetts.
John F. Kennedy spoke of the similar salinity of the sea and human blood. “…We have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back from whence we came.”
Rodts has a degree in economics from Hobart College with a minor in studio art. He pursued a career in investment banking
and then acting before the drive to make art took over. His meticulously detailed acrylic paintings are imbued with the knowledge and feeling that comes from a lifetime of experiencing the scenes he paints. There is a sense of nostalgia in his paintings but they are of a way of living that is still vibrant today.
He says, “My paintings represent my continued study of water and light combined with my love of sailing, history and the ocean. My goal is to be as realistic as possible while still producing an aesthetically pleasing painting which will draw the viewer into its mood.”
Night at the Point features a bevy of classic island vehicles that have brought a group of people to a spot beneath Brant Point Light to enjoy the full moon and camaraderie around a fire.
High Tide at 8 is a serene scene of luminous calm at an entrance to the beach through the dunes. It attests, too, to the vagaries of the sea and air, the fence battered and weathered and the dunes standing ready to protect the inland from storm waves.
Forrest Rodts: New Works opens at Quidley & Company’s Nantucket gallery July 12 and continues through July 24.