Robyn Horn (b. 1951) is a wood sculptor who works in Arkansas.
Horn’s career as a wood artist began in 1983 when her brother-in-law returned from a lathe-turning workshop at the Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. With his tutoring, she began turning vessels, and three years later, her forms evolved from utilitarian bowl forms into thick-walled semi-spherical forms she called her “geode series.”
Horn explores her work in a series of forms that appear to go through a transformation process as they proceed. In 1990, she began her “gemstone” series where the geode was faceted. In 1994, Horn was exploring thick, doughnut-like forms which she called her “millstone” series—inspired by the flat, circular, and grooved grinding stones used in nineteenth-century flour mills—and introduced her “stepping stone” series. In 1998, the artist’s work blossomed and took on several new directions. Simultaneously, she began to create her “monostone” and “standing stone” series. These are monolithic forms inspired by Olmec sculpture of Mesoamerica and tend to be slab-like where the silhouette and piercing of holes are important, suggesting an interest in pure sculptural forms. At the same time, Horn introduced her “relationship” and “spiral” series of paired freestanding forms where the components complement each other and where rusted metal was introduced.
Horn has won numerous awards for her work and was designated an Arkansas Living Treasure by the Department of Arkansas Heritage in 2008.
Horn is the founder and first president of the Collectors of Wood Art, an organization set up in 1997 for the purpose of fostering interest in wood art. Horn is also a collector of wood art, furniture, metal, glass, and ceramics.
