New fresco by Ben Long comes to Wingate University museum

Wingate University’s new art museum is home to the latest fresco by prominent North Carolina artist Ben Long.

He created a 10-by-7-foot, free-standing fresco that will be unveiled Thursday at the dedication for the $1.45 million Hinson Art Museum. The 5,500-square-foot museum opens to the public Monday.

Long is a Statesville native and grandson of artist McKendree Robbins Long. He is one of the few artists to work on frescoes, paintings on wet lime plaster. The plaster absorbs the paint as it dries, bonding the painting into the wall or ceiling.

The ancient art form flourished during the Renaissance, and reached its peak with Michelangelo’s frescoes on the the Sistine Chapel.

About two years ago, Wingate’s plans were coming together for an art museum to emphasize North Carolina masters. Jerry McGee, the university’s president at the time, said he asked then-art department chair Louise Napier who would be a real stretch to get for the museum. She mentioned Long.

McGee said he expects a lot of people will be drawn to the museum to see Long’s fresco. “We’re all just thrilled with the piece he completed,” McGee said.

It took Long and four assistants a little over three weeks to complete. A typical day lasted eight to 10 hours, with Long working on his feet practically the entire time.

The fresco is called “True Art Is to Conceal Art/Life Is Short, Art Is Long.” Long developed the theme of the fresco, which highlights long-lost art that had been rediscovered.

The idea, Long said, was that ordinary people could find something extraordinary under their feet or around the corner.

“A lot of these things were hidden from sight, not known, and they are definitely true art,” he said, “and true art that was concealed art.

“It’s just trying to show how things are richer if you pay attention to them.”

The piece has four main sections and depicts:

▪ Cave paintings in Lascaux, France, which were discovered by a teenager in 1940 and are more than 17,000 years old.

▪ The burning of books in the ancient library of Alexandria.

▪ A bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo, discovered by a Palestinian fisherman in 2013. The statue is believed to be about 2,500 years old.

▪ Michelangelo viewing the 1506 excavation of the Laocoon group marble statue, which Roman author Pliny the Elder described as residing in the palace of Emperor Titus in the 1st century A.D.

At one point, Long redid Michelangelo’s head because he wasn’t happy with the way it dried.

Donations from three local families helped pay for the museum and fresco, including Windell and Judy Talley, an anonymous donor, and Ron and Delilah Hinson. The museum is named in honor of their son, Eric, a Union County art teacher.

Wingate spokesman Jeff Atkinson declined to discuss the cost of the fresco.

The university has more than 3,100 students among its main campus in Union County and its Charlotte and Hendersonville campuses.

Some of Long’s frescoes can be found in St. Peter’s Catholic Church, on the Transamerica Square dome and in the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte. His frescoes also reside in other parts of the state, among other places, including the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium, the Crossnore School in Avery County and the Statesville Civic Center.

That last effort generated controversy in 2000. Some local ministers complained that it promoted paganism because its central figure was Hecate, the three-headed Greek goddess of the crossroads who also is associated with witchcraft.

Long and civic leaders defended the work, “Images at the Crossroads,” and the controversy eventually faded.

As for Long, the 70-year-old Asheville resident intends to continue painting and working on more frescoes. “I have no plans to retire – that doesn’t exist.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 10:22 AM.