Forrest Rodts
Luminism at Large at the Robert Wilson Gallery
BY SHARON LORENZO INDEPENDENT CONTRIBUTOR
As a lineal descendent of seventeenth century proprietor John Gardner, Forrest Rodts is a Nantucket summer native with deep family ties to the island. Trained in economics and fine arts at Hobart College, Rodts has a disciplined hand, which paints in acrylics with photographic precision. While he boasts no formal training, Forrest is now a full time artist in Marblehead, Mass., where he and his wife Linda are raising their two sons. He is cogniscent of the American Luminist movement, a small part of the Hudson River School, which focused on the vaporous atmosphere of early dawn and sunset light, which some said showed the hand of God at work in nature. Princeton's foremost American scholar and art historian, John Wilmerding has written the definitive text on the matter, "American Light: The Luminist Movement 1850-1875" which Rodts seems to emulate in his recent works.

Rodts paints in acrylics with photographic precision. Above:"Morning on the Harbor" Bottom left: "Gate to Sankaty" Bottom right: "Shadow Crossing"

Many of his pictures involve the use of boats, and it is refreshing to those who love the art of sail to see someone who can feel the water line hit the wave and understand the difference in how a boat moves through water under sail or motor power. Rodts professes to sail in the Wednesday night series at the Eastern Yacht Club near Marblehead, and he is also a fan of the Rainbow and Indian fleets of Nantucket, which can be seen in this current exhibition.

His forefather John Gardner lies buried in the ancestral graveyard overlooking Maxcy's Pond, a magisterial view of the first Sherburne harbor settlement. Rodts is a testament and tribute to that hardy stock which braved the first winters to survive difficult times in this island's history. You can see this determination and concentration in his painting, which is formal, balanced, precise and glowing with a spiritual embrace of quiet mornings and breathtaking sunsets. Forrest Rodts is a fine painter, not to be missed in the medley of our summer

season of specialists. I