Meet a Colleague: Robert Forsberg

Meet a Colleague: Robert Forsberg Robert Forsberg serves as operations manager and performs visitor services for the Museums at W&L.

W&L News Office
August 21, 2024

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I will have worked at W&L for three years come October.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
I'm definitely biased, but the Elisabeth S. Gottwald Gallery in the Reeves Museum of Ceramics. The Museums at W&L has amazing exhibitions throughout the Reeves Museum of Ceramics, University Chapel & Chapel Galleries, Watson Galleries and McCarthy Gallery in Holekamp Hall. However, there's an intimacy in the Gottwald Gallery that lets me really focus on the art and ideas on display.

Q. Where did you grow up?
Up until now, I've always lived as a nomad. But the largest chunks of my childhood were spent in Modesto, California, Seattle, Washington and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
I once got lost on the streets of Singapore and Malaysia for over 24 hours with no map, no cell service, no friends, no language skills and almost no money.

Q. What's your favorite thing to do when you're not working?
I love designing and playing tabletop role-playing games. I've got a couple of regular groups I play with, and my first published game will be coming out later this year. It's called INFERNUS, and it answers the timeless question, "What would happen if 18th century illuminati investigated mutants and demons inside the hollow center of the world?"

Q. If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?
Honestly? Probably Lexington. But close second would be one of the more suburban parts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Who most inspires you?
I'm going to cop out and give two answers. The first is my kids because I continually strive to be my best for them and to give them the best opportunities in life. The second is my dear friend, Corey Egbert. He is a local artist and author, and whether it's seeing his work or hearing his perspectives, I always walk away with exciting new ideas and a renewed desire to better myself and my work.

Q. What book are you reading now?
I'm actually reading three books right now: "The Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring)" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, and "A Fragile Union" by James Whitehead.

Q. What music are you listening to these days?
Ska, garage punk and Tuvan throat singing all day everyday.

Q. Which historical figure do you most identify with and why?
Søren Kierkegaard because we're just a couple of goofy Christian existentialists with wonky health and a relish for irony. I'm also very Danish on my father's side, so I've got to represent.

Q. If you could have coffee with one person, who would it be and why?
I'd get Cook Out milkshakes with Joseph Smith Jr. I'm a Latter-day Saint (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and Smith was the group's first leader back during the early 1800s. Even if we set aside all accounts of supernatural incidents, the guy was the center of crazy political and social upheaval and tons of scandal and controversy. I wouldn't be able to resist hearing him spill the proverbial tea from his perspective.

Q. What is your desert island food?
Ooo, interesting question. You see, I've had to cut out cholesterol and most sugar from my diet for medical reasons, so it depends on how likely I thought it was that I'd be rescued. If my odds were 30% or better, then veggie variations of tom kha soup and rice. Otherwise, I'm gorging hard on chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake until I keel over.

Q. Tell us something most people don't know about you.
Most people know I'm a little weird, but most don't know that I sing lullabies to my kids in a made-up language I created. The tricky part is adapting the translation to fit the meter of existing songs without losing the essence of the original lyrics.

Q. What is your secret talent?
It's both my superpower and my curse: I have an unholy amount of hypermobility in my joints, which means I can bend my body in all sorts of crazy ways. While this is great for parlor tricks and getting into/out of tight spaces, it's also why I keep blowing out my knees and spraining my wrists.

Q. Anything else you'd like to share?
I know it sounds like an ad, but seriously, don't forget to see the new exhibition Stephanie Shih: LONG TIME NO SEE (好久不見) at the Reeves Museum of Ceramics! It features the incredible work of the Museums' inaugural artist-in-residence, Stephanie Shih, and incorporates a bunch of pieces from the nationally renowned Reeves Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain. Plus, you'll probably get to see me, so what more could you ask for?