By William Smith
A practical farmgirl with a passion for acrylics and charcoal, Mount Pleasant artist Jerilyn Horn has accomplished something many painters spend a lifetime striving to achieve.
She’s a full-time artist. No nine-to-five job pushing her passion to the periphery. No monthly stipend to support her during the slow months.
Just paintbrushes, time, and a long list of clients who adore her earthy, artistic take on Midwest life.
“People want paintings of their kids, their pets. I get really busy around Christmas time,” she said.
But Horn is more than an artist for hire. That was evident in the pieces hanging on the gallery walls Sunday afternoon at The Art Center on Jefferson Street.
“A lot of these are childhood memories for me,” she said, pointing to a painting of an old chicken coop framed by a patch of rhubarb in the foreground. “My grandma made great rhubarb pie.”
Horn’s grandfather bred and raised quarter horses on that farm. Looking through that self-created portrait of memory in her first solo art exhibit was equal parts real and surreal.
“This finally feels real,” she said, her family perusing the walls of the gallery.
One of her paintings, "Chores,” recalls another familiar site for farm kids —an old water pump emerging from the ground and a gate to hold the horses behind it. For Horn, the painting carries emotional heft.
“My grandpa used to get up at the crack of dawn and feed and water the horses,” she said, recalling a rather horrific incident while speaking during Sunday’s artist reception.
One day while he was weaning a colt, the mother horse panicked and ran, trampling Horn’s grandfather in the process.
“It actually crushed his kneecap,” she said. “He had to get surgery and get his knee replaced.”
Horn’s grandfather could barely bend his knee after that and had to get a specially designed shoe with a taller sole to make up for a leg that shortened in surgery. He walked with a pronounced limp.
Yet he still went back to the farm when he recovered, never afraid, never soured on his life’s work and passion. That was one lesson Horn took from her grandparents.
Many of the rest came from her grandmother, the late Barbara Garrels. A gifted artist who served as Horn’s inspiration, Barbara worked primarily in the medium of oil paintings. She taught adult painting and drawing classes at both Southeastern Community College in West Burlington and the Burlington Art Center.
Horn never took formal lessons. She just watched her grandma, developing her own painting style without the pressure of repudiation.
“I was just naturally able to draw when I was a kid,” she said.
Until a year ago, Horn made a living as an interior designer, her art in the background as a lifelong hobby. Then she suddenly declared it her new career in July of 2019, casting away the stability of an hourly wage.
“I was a little scared,” she said. “But I have a 3-year-old and 7-year-old, so I could spend more time with them.”
Horn has sold roughly 90 pieces since she started a year ago (30 of those non-commissioned), yet she still finds time to paint for herself during the slow months.
It’s a practical confluence of artistic talent, shared interests by her clients, and overlapping nostalgia. Horn, who grew up in Mount Pleasant, paints what she sees, and what she remembers seeing as a child.
Those unfamiliar with the Midwest might dismiss it as kitsch. Those who grew up here recognize its nostalgic importance.
“My niche is Midwest art,” Horn said.
Horn’s show will be at the Art Center Gallery until the end of July.
Photo by William Smith
Jerilyn Horn of Mount Pleasant shows off her paintings in a solo exhibit Sunday afternoon at The Art Center on Jefferson Street.