From the Gaston Gazette
By Amanda Millard
People gather for the unveiling of the dedication ceremony for the John Biggers commemorative mosaic mural at The Schiele Museum in Gastonia on Sunday.
Benjamin Patton/The Gazette
John Biggers would have been 84 years old Sunday.
Biggers died in January 2001, but his memory lives on in a commemorative mosaic mural dedicated in his name.
“He’s had traveling shows. He’s won awards. He’s written a couple of books,” his wife Hazel Biggers said. “But it’s nothing like being recognized by your hometown.”
John Biggers planned to do a mural in his hometown. He researched, gathered photographs of mills and learned about Gastonia’s textile history.
“He told the committee ‘I hope I live to finish it,’” Biggers said. “But he didn’t live to finish it. And I think doing the mosaic was the next best thing.”
John Biggers’ nephew Jim Biggers said his uncle would have been pleased with the results.
“This is John Biggers coming home in a more personal sense,” said Jim Biggers. “John’s smiling over it. That’s what counts.”
For those who worked for years on getting the mural completed, Sunday’s unveiling was a moment of satisfaction.
“This has been a long time coming and I think it was worth the wait,” said Ring Torrence Stafford, chairwoman of the John Biggers Commemorative Mural Committee. “When that unveiling happened, I got tears in my eyes.”
At least 200 people gathered at the front of the Schiele Museum to see the unveiling of the John Biggers Commemorative Mosaic. The brown tarp came down to reveal a glass tile mosaic mural that is a recreation of Biggers’ painting “This Little Light of Mine.” The mosaic, measuring 16 feet wide by 11 feet deep, depicts a woman standing beside a railroad track with rows of shotgun houses on either side of her.
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More information from a previous article below
John Biggers
According to the book “Black Leaders: Texans for Their Times,” John T. Biggers’ first artistic endeavors came as a small child growing up in Gastonia.
He and his brothers and sisters would re-create the town out of the red clay underneath their Davidson Street home, complete with streets, buildings, houses with lawns of moss and streams of real water.
Biggers said he developed his appreciation for art and sculpture while growing up in what is now the Highland area of Gastonia, and references to the city can be found in many of his pieces.
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