Welcome to the 2025 Charles van Horne Art Award!
This award honors Charlie van Horne, a longtime Roothbert Board member, Treasurer, President, and great-nephew of Antonie van Horn Roothbert. Charlie was a financier, philosopher, and gifted artist who brought curiosity, compassion, and creativity to everything he touched. This award celebrates his legacy and enduring love for the arts.
This year, we received two submissions for the award. Please see the two submissions below. When you’re ready, vote for your favorite via the link below. All voting is anonymous. Winners will receive $500, plus a featured spotlight on the Roothbert website!
Submissions
Submission 1: “Still Life by the Sea”
Materials: Oil on Canvas
Artist’s Note: Nothing lasts forever. Yet as humans, we attempt to preserve moments and feelings through the alchemy of art. My artistic practice, and this painting specifically, is a meditation on the interplay of permanence and impermanence. Against the backdrop of the vast sea and sky, a vase of lilies in a state of metamorphosis becomes a symbol of fragility faced with the sublime.
Submission 2: “Best Friends”
Materials: Pen, Paper, Pencils
Artist’s Note: This drawing depicts personal events from the last year that left me traumatized and needing help from friends and family. It conveys my up-and-coming relationship with both spirituality and the archetypes created to compartmentalize it. The trauma relates to loss, as I traverse my own dark forest of femininity, gender identity, sexuality, personhood, friendship/sisterhood, motherhood, and a whole world of newly-developed psychological complexes.
