About George

George Forney is one of our more unusual artists. Though having lived a long life and now arrived at the age of 74, George is only just emerging onto the art scene. After a long career in the now niche craft of hand-making fountain pens, George has always had a skilled hand and creative mind, yet only began applying these skills to art-making after the unfortunate and sudden loss of his sight some years ago.

“I suppose it was a rather sad thing. And it was difficult in the beginning. But it has made me appreciate the power of the sense of touch. You don’t realise that it is just as powerful a guide as sight, and you begin to appreciate objects around you in a different way.” – Forney

George lives alone on the coast of West Scotland, often accompanied by his helper-turned-assistant Sarah, who spends her mornings collecting coastal debris from the beach for George to use as materials for his sculptures.

“I bring up anything I can find for him, really. Sit him at his kitchen table with all the bits and bobs laid out in front of him, his ball of string and his wire and off he goes. He’s astoundingly dexterous actually, considering his age and impairment. Really wonderful to watch.” – Sarah

Having had an avid interest in Scottish folk music and folk instruments as a young man, George builds instrumental sculptures from this coastal debris, and afterwards draws the finished object in ink, relying on touch to sense the shape of the object and guide his linemaking.

“Of course, I’ll never know what my work looks like, but others will. That’s what makes it interesting, I suppose. I use touch to make an object that appears as though it might make sound. And others will use their sight to experience that object. We forget how important our senses are. Perhaps I’m reminding people of that.” – Forney

Though George began his artmaking simply as a hobby, with little intention of any of it leaving the house, Sarah saw something special in his work and convinced him to reveal it to the public, displaying his work in local galleries and art fairs. And we’re very glad she did!