Towering steel sculptures spin in the wind outside the home of a seasoned engineer, beekeeper, winemaker, and videographer — all by the name of Ottavio Forte.
Forte’s creative spirit keeps him busy, from welding kinetic sculptures to repairing his neighbors’ electronic devices to making cooking videos of healthy Italian recipes for the Belmont Media Center.
“If I have a problem, I don’t sleep until I solve it,” he said.
Known throughout Belmont for his ability to repair almost anything, his vibrant presence on local television, and for producing homemade honey, maple syrup, and wine, Forte is also regarded as an innovative artist and beloved neighbor.
A Creative Mind
Forte came to the United States with his mother and siblings at the age of 14, after growing up in Italy, a country still in the grip of World War II.
“When you live in a lot of danger, [with] no food and lots of stress, you grow up very quickly,” he said.
Forte was a studious child who didn’t mix easily with his peers after immigrating to the US.
“I was an adult compared to them,” he said. “I was in my own cocoon — all I could do was study, study, study.”
His high-school physics teacher saw Forte’s promise as a scientist and encouraged him to develop his talent.
“You know, in my genes, I could see that I was a techie — I loved science,” Forte said.
At age 23, as an engineer for the Apollo space program, Forte helped land the first astronauts on the moon. It was his first engineering job out of college.
Forte went on to work as an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 22 years.
During this time, he invented a digital interface for the underwater Trident missile used by the US Navy.
“That was revolutionary in those days,” he said.
Bridging Art and Science
After retiring, Forte applied his creative mind to art.
“I always wanted to take a welding class when I retired,” he said. “I finally retired … and I’ve been welding ever since.”
Forte’s dynamic hand-crafted sculptures play with movement, balance, and shapes, looming up to 14 feet high and often involving rotating parts.
Forte begins each sculpture by designing a miniature model. He uses his engineering skills to ensure that the pieces fit soundly together and can withstand even the strongest gusts of Belmont wind.
“One winter was so cold, and I never saw flowers in the spring, so I decided to make my own,” he said.
The resulting sculpture, “Family Flowers,” is an homage to Forte’s family.
“The five petals of each flower are color-coded to show ‘DNA traces’ all the way down to my two grandchildren,” Forte wrote in a description of the piece.
Jeffrey Hansell, director of the Belmont Media Center, said, “He reminds me a little bit of Leonardo da Vinci because of his ability to do so many different things — [to] understand the technical world and then respond to his artistic inspiration.”
He added, “When you go through his home, and you see the artwork and the sculpture, you realize this person’s really existing on a different level.”
“It’s always fun to see any new additions to the garden and seeing it grow over time,” said Cynthia Chang, Forte’s neighbor.
“We absolutely love all the pieces that he makes, and we love that there’s movement to them and there’s color,” Chang added.
Connecting and Repairing
Chang and Hansell also recall Forte jumping at the chance to repair numerous electronic devices for them. He’s someone who always wants to learn, said Chang.
“We had a problem with some of the fluorescent lights [at the media center] because they’re aging,” Hansell said. “And when I talked to Ottavio about it, he said, ‘Oh, no, we can take care of it — you and me will fix it.’ And he did.”
Chang also described him as a “very gregarious and fun-loving person.”
“[He’s] sharing with others in every way that he can,” she added, “whether it’s the produce he’s growing in his garden, to his knowledge about fixing things, to his artwork for the community.”
Forte said one of the things he misses most is human interaction.
“Certainly, artists are usually lonely people,” he said. “So there is a certain amount of loneliness that I feel — I live alone here now, so I like to communicate.”
Hansell said he’s a difficult person to miss – so if you see him, stop and say hello.
“He’s really one of Belmont’s treasures,” he said. “And you’re a better person for knowing him.”