Thinking Made Visible: The Notebooks of Tom Forrestall

157 pages, full colour, 8.5 x 11 in.

ISBN 978-1927054-52-9 C$45.00 2022

Tom Forrestall, CM, is a leading Canadian artist whose realist and magic realist egg tempera and watercolour paintings, often on his signature shaped panels, have been exhibited extensively in Canada and Europe. From the earliest days of his storied career, beginning at Sackville New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University, Forrestall has kept notebooks that explore his everyday observations in words and sketches. Now approaching four hundred, these notebooks loom as an archive of unparalleled scope, documenting the artist’s creative process, development, and style. 

This book is the first full-length overview of his notebooks, featuring a selection of entries from the 1940s to the present. No other comparable archive of an artist’s process exists. Accompanying the artist’s work are a foreword by Bernie Riordon, OC, and essays by Terry Graff, Sarah Moore Fillmore, Ray Cronin, Tom Smart, Bart Gazzola, and Virgil Hammock. The publication of this book was accompanied by an exhibit of Forrestall’s notebooks at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, the McCain Gallery in Florenceville, and Mount Allison University in Sackville. 

“My notebooks are my constant companion, not some occasional well to drink from, but in use all the time, night and day. The great challenge is the search for clear vision.”  –Tom Forrestall

“Numbering close to 400, the notebooks form a comprehensive record of the life-long pursuit of the artistic vision of one of Atlantic Canada’s most notable and prodigious visual artists.”  –Terry Graff