BROOKE COUNTY, W.Va. (WTRF)
A local high school student has received numerous awards for his artistic ability.
Brooke High School has their very own award winning artist.
Senior Josh Van Horn placed 1st in the Science in the Arts Challenge at WV State Science and Engineering Fair.
He received honorable mention for his piece for the Dreams and Nightmares Show at Summit Art Gallery.
He won the Recycling Coalition of WV Annual Freedom Contest.
“The theme of it was it all comes back to you, so I decided to take magazines and recycle them and I cut them up and made a self portrait out of them and to sort of inspire people that you can make anything with recycled materials.”
Josh Van Horn – Senior Brooke High School, Artist
And in January of this year he placed 1st in mixed media at the Regional Student Art Exhibit at Stifel Fine Arts Center.
He submitted his Recycled Portrait and a piece he titled addiction.
“The piece related to a skull smoking, shaded in with the word addiction a bunch of times and the background included a collage of articles about people dying and bad things happening because of it.”
Josh Van Horn – Senior Brooke High School, Artist
He says he really got into art his sophomore year during covid. With nothing to really do he said he started drawing more and it turned into a passion of his.
“I ended up just painting my room. I did like an entire wall and that’s kind of where it started. From there I just started drawing more, and then I couldn’t really get away from it.”
Josh Van Horn – Senior Brooke High School, Artist
And his artistic ability doesn’t fall to far from the family tree.
His dad Jamie Van Horn shows his creative style in the cars he designs and his grandfather, Lee Van Horn, worked in the mill and painted murals and he also spent years creating snow sculptures in his front yard.
“My family’s a great inspiration to me. They helped show me that it was possible, you know, and they kind of blow me away with the stuff they have done. So hopefully I can do the same with them one day.”
Josh Van Horn – Senior Brooke High School, Artist
“I think it’s always really exciting when you get someone who’s passionate about art and has talent in your class and it’s been exciting to have Josh. He’s fun, he adds a lot of excitment to the classroom. His art work is exciting, you know, he’s always doing something different, and edgy, and it draws people in.”
Sara Roark – Art Teacher, Brooke High School
Van Horn says he wants his art to be more then just what someone looks at.
He says his goal is to portray a feeling.
“I want you to see my art and not just think, oh this kid’s talented, I want you to feel something, you know what I mean, I want you to feel what I was feeling in that moment. That’s my main goal, is to make people feel when they see my art.”
Josh Van Horn – Senior, Brooke High School, Artist
Josh has plans to attend West Liberty University after high school to better his art skills.
In the upcoming months he plans to release a music album and publish a portfolio of his most recent art works.
