By Stephen Smoot
During the past few years, towns and cities of the Potomac Highlands have seen rich infusions of color, spectacle, area culture, and tradition gracing the sides of buildings. These murals represent the effort of Kelson Thorne to bring to bold colors the aspects that make each of these unique places and people so special.
“As I’ve gotten older,” he shared, “I’ve wanted to create something for the area, something that people can resonate with and be proud of.” Many of his pieces have a dual purpose to instill pride in the people for their community while showcasing the place’s best and most interesting aspects to visitors.
Like many young people, Thorne moved away to pursue his art dreams and then had to return. He shared that “when I moved back, I thought my art career was over,” but it was from the muses of people, the scenery, the history, and the culture of what was familiar to him all of his life that he drew, and draws, his inspiration.
His current project has slowly come to life during the past few weeks on the wall of South Branch Potomac Lanes in Moorefield. Where once a blank wall greeted bowling alley patrons, over time figures of law enforcement, fire fighters, and emergency medical services slowly emerged. Determined expressions sternly face the danger of a wildfire billowing behind a fire engine.
This mural, and another in Petersburg depicting emergency responders, conveys vividly a powerful, yet recently created set of historical memories. In multiple recent years, the quick proliferation of fires in dangerous conditions brought out every emergency responder who could take up the fight to protect lives and property. Those men and women’s hard and brave work is remembered in these unique works that will remain in place long after those alive at their creation has passed.
“People started to get into it,” he related, adding that vision has expanded into providing other local artists opportunities to share their talent at South Side Depot in Petersburg and also bringing high school students into community projects.
A Thorne mural opens with a “scribble grid.” He said with a laugh that “people think it looks like graffiti.” Marks that appear random to the untrained eye actually help the artist to map out proportions as he or she uses technology to help to translate their vision from a sketch to the surface selected for painting.
From there, the artist brings a vision that will last for generations into full living color. And that takes the story to the next iteration of “Ars longa, vita brevis,” that of the development of the master craftsman.
“Every project that I do, I take something away that I didn’t know previously,” Thorne explained. With every project, he seeks out ways to incorporate something new, whether it be a technique, technology, or some other facet. Thorne quantified that at least four percent of every new project will incorporate something he has not done before.
One example lay in the mural he created at Pilgrims, now the largest mural by a single artist in the state of West Virginia. Thorne usually applies paint with brushes and other typical tools of the trade, but not this time. He used devices to precisely apply the paint, just one example of Thorne “adding tools to my toolbox.”
“I like experimenting with new methods and building on what I already know,” he stated, adding that the importance for him was “so I can continue to grow and challenge myself.” He has eyeballed using ultraviolet reflective paints on his next project to create different color effects.
As he continues to develop his art and brings unique works throughout the Potomac Highlands region, Thorne has taken advantage of opportunities to try new media and also help others who want to follow his path.
The project comes from a collaboration between West Virginia University and Mon Forest Towns. It envisions taking the kind of canoes that one might take for a sojourn on area rivers and repurposing them as practical, useful, but beautiful art. “We’re repurposing canoes into kiosks,” shared Thorne. He explained “they will be painted for each town.” Though Petersburg will get the first finished product, Thorne stated, “Seneca Rocks and Franklin are part of the project.”
Credit for the final project will not go to Thorne alone. He will cover the “shell” of the underside of the canoe while aspiring artists from local high schools will paint the door into the kiosk and other surfaces for those placed in their counties.
Annie Humes, Pendleton County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, added that students at WVU studying to become art instructors will take part in the project as well. Also “the Pendleton County Arts Council provided support.”
“Finding places to put them is my job,” Humes shared.
