ARTS & SCIENCE COUNCIL

Artist rendering of Tommie Robinson’s mural honoring the history and legacy of Second Ward High School. The mural will be painted on the former Second Ward gym.

Art is a challenge.

Creating a pair of murals to commemorate the former Second Ward High School has proven one of the most complicated projects for 71-year-old Charlotte artist Tommie Robinson.

“This is one of the most difficult projects that I’ve done,” Robinson said. “I had to have a cataract operation [in February] while I was working on the mural. It’s been pretty difficult doing them, but now I’m on track, and doing quite well with them.”

The completed murals coincide with the Second Ward gym renovation at 710 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. as part of Mecklenburg County’s Capital Improvement Plan from fiscal year 2016 at a budget of $52,792.

“One is dealing with the athletics of Second Ward High School and the other one is dealing with the academics,” Robinson said.

Said ASC’s Vice President of Public Art Carla Hanzal: “It housed athletic events, dances and graduations, and effectively served as the Brooklyn neighborhood’s community center in the 1950s and ‘60s. Robinson’s two 6-foot by 8-foot murals will pay tribute to the academic and training provided by this historic school, as well illuminate the various neighborhoods that benefited from this school, and the education it provided.”

Robinson advised the addition of some form of protection over the murals, which prolongs the process, as the paint has to be, as he describes, “thoroughly dry, which takes about eight months to a year to dry, before you can put the varnish on them.” Robinson incorporated a drying aid to speed the process by a couple of months.  

“They have to have a varnish over them, because they’re being displayed in an area where athletic activities take place, like basketball,” Robinson said. “I suggested that they have some kind of covering over them, because you don’t always hit the basket when you shoot the basketball.”

Said Hanzal: “An established and celebrated artist, Robinson recalls delivering milk to both the Brooklyn and Myers Park neighborhoods in the dark hours of the morning before attending middle school. His primary research for these murals was conducted at Second Ward School’s alumni building, as well as the Carolina Room of the Public Library.”

Robinson, who is self-taught, sold his first painting at age 14. He spent time painting portraits of military families in Europe during his time in the Army and been commissioned to produce works across the city—including Spectrum Center, but now his work centers on what he wants to paint rather than on what others desire.

“North Carolina has been good to me,” Robinson said. “I’ve gone back to doing my own personal large paintings again. If you don’t know you’re close to death at 71, you’re a fool. I don’t think I’ve ever been a fool. I’m more interested in the future now than just making money. I think I’m doing some of my best painting at this stage in my life. I don’t have to paint for a reason.”

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