For Brittany Horne, painting is much more than a hobby.
It’s about expression and connection, leading her across Mississippi and the country, and recently, bringing her back to the Columbus Arts Council’s Black Excellence Exhibition – a show hanging at the Rosenzweig Arts Center throughout the month of February featuring multiple artists to celebrate Black History Month.
“Painting is specifically, to me, a connection,” Horne said. “It’s a spiritual journey, staying connected and showing honor and praises through my artwork. It’s great for mental health as well, helping you express your feelings. Things you can’t speak with words comfortably, you can express through your art.”
Horne grew up in Shuqualak in Noxubee County. Though she enjoyed exploring nature and learning from older residents around her, she was already serious about art by the 10th grade and transferred to the Mississippi School of the Arts in Brookhaven.
After high school, Horne enrolled at Mississippi State University and continued to improve her craft there, majoring in fine arts with a specialization in drawing. She said the fine arts program pushed her to experiment with painting and other less common mediums, like collage elements that are now a part of her typical style.
Horne also started integrating more of her spirituality into her work during college.
“I really enjoyed MSU because even though it was close to home, it was still a nice college environment with other creatives like myself,” she said.
After college, Horne’s path led her to learn about marketing and sales through a job with Comcast. She then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked as a photographer for the World of Coca-Cola museum. Even then, what she remembers most is the people she met there.
“I really enjoyed that job because I was able to connect with people from around the world that came into the exhibit,” she said. “Of course I enjoyed the photography as well, but my favorite part was the people. Seeing their different features, listening to their different languages. It inspired me to want to dive deeper into different cultures and express them within my art.”
Horne also worked as a high school art teacher for four years. While she liked teaching and working with children, the schedule became an obstacle to her work. She’s stepped back from teaching today, homeschooling her three kids for their early education but sending them to public school when they’re old enough.
That’s given Horne more flexibility to focus on her art and travel. Her work primarily centers people and portraiture, and the pieces she submitted to the Black Excellence Exhibition featured prominent figures like Beyoncé Knowles, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Prince, Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur and others.
But Horne’s portfolio includes a wide diversity of subjects.
“In college I wanted to create something different, something nobody has ever seen,” she said. “I did a series called ‘Homelessness in America,’ interviewing the homeless community about their situation and how they wound up there. Then I created a work to portray what they’d said, using materials related to the subject like the cardboard they’d use to build homes. That’s how I got into mixed media.”
Mixed media is still a part of Horne’s process today, as many of the portraits displayed at the Rosenzweig Arts Center are adorned with cloth and jewelry, highlighting her subjects’ status as modern royalty.
But for her next work, Horne said she’s turning once again to a new culture, looking to South Sudan’s cattle herding tribes.
“My goal is to help people understand and relate to different cultures and people with different life experiences,” she said. “… I enjoy studying people, their habits, their lifestyles, their culture and identity. Every person is created differently. That’s what’s so beautiful about life. We’re all connected, but we’re all very different as well.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
