Forrest Solis

Forrest Solis received her MFA in Painting from Indiana University in Tempe, IN, and her BFA from Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. Her research explores the female experience from a psychological lens. In 2015, Solis founded Creative Push, an ongoing multimedia visual art and oral history project that collects, transforms, displays, and circulates birth stories and artworks. In creating meaning and connectivity through art and sharing, the project offers insights into various cultural traditions, while also highlighting the ways in which we are fundamentally connected. Solis has been teaching studio courses in higher education for nearly two decades. Her teaching builds formal painting and drawing skills, engages students in a critical dialog on representation and identity, and develops knowledge of historical and contemporary art. 

Since 2014, Solis has held a leadership position within the School of Art. In her current role as director, Solis uses her knowledge and experience in operations and governance to organize a cohesive, supportive, and highly creative school within a healthy environment. She listens, collaboratively imagines, and implements strategies to acknowledge, amplify, and provide the structural support to connect people with resources and opportunities to realize their potential. She is working with faculty to maintain up-to-date governing documents to ensure processes are transparent and fair, and support faculty advancement while also establishing systems of accountability and recognition. The recent Solari Foundation gift and collection loan is an example of the type of philanthropic support that was secured for the purpose of advancing research and education and strengthening community engagement. She identifies, envisions, and places people in proximity to each other in ways that anticipate collaborative action. Solis has demonstrated a commitment to advancing initiatives that position and empower creative thinkers with the skills and knowledge to participate in and influence systems that define our world, including the New Economy Initiative and the ASU-LACMA Fellowship program. 

She is committed to supporting the development of curriculum that creates new knowledge, insights, and strategies for addressing today’s pressing challenges across diverse perspectives, backgrounds and histories. Towards this effort, Solis funded course development and made significant faculty hires, radically transforming the faculty demographics and diversity of course offerings. She is continuing efforts to strengthen faculty mentorship and implementing a new model for staff retention and success. As a systems thinker her role is to envision, oversee, and invigorate productive connections between people and resources that lead to inspiring ideas and solutions. She successfully manages a multimillion-dollar budget, significantly reducing costs and raising revenue through ethical civic-minded program development w/scale and by designing innovative revenue and expense calculators for several key areas, including summer and online courses, area budgets, and merit/salary compression. Finally, she has a demonstrated record of approaching the facilities strategically: renovating, repurposing, and allocating space within new buildings, and collaborating with faculty on design while managing expectations.