Rod Forslund | Glimpses, Dreams, & Memories

Rod Forslund

Like most artists I grew up as the kid in grade school who drew pictures. I was  fortunate to have parents and teachers who encouraged me to develop my  artistic abilities and by middle school my drawings had advanced enough where I  was getting commissions. My favorite subjects were buildings, cars, and nature  themes. I was fascinated by how the things humans built fit into the natural  world, and how the weather played as a backdrop to everything that happens in  life. 

By high school I was taking painting classes and architectural drafting classes. I  had amazing public school art teachers who taught me the fundamentals of each  discipline and I knew I wanted both these things to figure into my eventual  vocation, which was to be an Interior Designer.  

I graduated from Iowa State University with a BFA in Interior Design and  Art. I started out in Graphic Design but through a friend who was a major in  Interior Design I learned I could use my art skills as an Architectural Designer. Interior Design was the perfect discipline and I flourished in my studio work. I  ended up graduating with the highest honor for a graduating art and design  student by receiving the Janice Peterson Anderson Award in Design. All of that  was the culmination of years of being curious about art and how I could make a  career from it. I was recruited by ISU Alumni Julie Thoma to work in her award-winning Interior  Design studio in Chicago so off I went to the Windy City. My skills as an  architectural renderer and Lead Interior Designer would propel me to get jobs  with major architectural firms for the next 30 years in Chicago, New York City, and  Seattle.  

Over time computers took over the hand rendering skills I loved to use. No longer  was I using my Prismacolor markers and pencils to produce renderings, instead, photorealistic computer models were the norm. I missed the artistic  hand-produced aspect of my profession. In 2018 I decided to return to my artistic roots. I quit my corporate architecture  job, sold my condo, and moved to the art mecca of Galisteo New Mexico just  outside Santa Fe to focus on my painting skills. I rented an artist’s Casita and  participated in the Galisteo studio tour. In 2019 I moved to Northern Colorado to join family who also decided to move to  the Mountain West. Today I work full time in my studio at Artworks Center for  Contemporary Art where I am exploring and learning something new every day on  my life-long art journey.