Mixing talents has taken this local artist down a myriad of pathways.
The combination of a life-long love of art and a corporate career has put Kathy Rennell Forbes in a unique position. The Dunwoody native toggles between painting, teaching and using her business skills to manage the Atlanta Artists Center in Buckhead.
Her attraction to art dates back to her childhood when her grandfather, a printer, brought home reams of paper in all sizes that became her first canvases. “I remember winning an award in kindergarten for a drawing I did of a boy on the back of a deer,” she says. That earliest success led to a BFA in art and art education from the University of Georgia in 1981. But at the time, the workforce wasn’t particularly artist friendly.
“That was the year the state government decided we needed to cut back on funds for arts, music and physical education,” she says. “There were no jobs. I ended up working for Citicorp, a job that taught me not to overspend and keep within a budget. Later, at IBM, I was in software development and traveling a lot, so in 1992, I took a [buyout] rather than being on the road all the time.”
The end of her corporate career freed her to raise her children and eventually return to art. She began teaching adults in 2004 at the Chastain Arts Center, a gig that led to teaching continuing education courses at Kennesaw State. “I loved that more people heard about me and recommended me,” Forbes says. “Soon I was offering classes and workshops around the state and the Southeast. And I taught online during COVID.”
Her reputation led to her becoming a lifetime member of the Georgia Watercolor Society, a seat she’s held for the last 16 years. For the last year, she’s been the gallery chair at the Atlanta Artists Center, a position that includes managing events and competitions at the nonprofit’s Grandview Gallery in Buckhead. But being on the administrative side hasn’t taken away from teaching: She leads three watercolor classes each week at the Abernathy Arts Center in Sandy Springs.
“Watercolor is my favorite because it’s magical,” she says. “The colors just blend on the paper so beautifully. You have to work hard to make those paints blend in oils and acrylics.”
Forbes’ base is a studio near Georgia Tech that she shares with an environmental artist who inspired her to dive into papermaking. That led to a new interest in mixed media, in which she shreds her watercolor works and repurposes them onto old canvases. A solo show of those works went up at Sandy Springs city hall last fall. Other samples of her works are part of private and corporate collections around the globe, including the Universal Studios in LA, the French Olympic Committee in Paris and the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. Last year, she was tapped to paint the papal crest of Pope Leo XIV at Atlanta’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
But the artist also relishes painting outside. That work earned her the title of “master artists” at the 2017 Olmsted Georgia Color Plein Air Invitational, a competition she has continued to be a part of.
“I do a lot of plein air and compete in plein air competitions, including one in Savannah in October,” she says. “It’s always great to be outdoors where people can see you working and stop to talk about it.”
Forbes’ latest art adventures have taken her beyond the U.S. She’s accepted invitations to teach in Italy, France, Spain and Cuba, and is delighted that these opportunities combine two of her favorite things. “I love to paint outdoors, and I love to travel,” she says. “And now I have the chance to combine those things into something different.”
KATHY RENNELL FORBES
rennellforbes.com
@artbykrf
