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'I woke up one day in my 60s and decided to become an artist'

Alice CunninghamSuffolk
News imageEd Harvey A woman paints green squares on to a white canvas. She has shoulder length brown hair, green glasses and she is wearing a grey T-shirt. Other pieces of artwork rest on the table beside her and there are others behind her.Ed Harvey
Gina Long never expected to become an artist in her 60s after a career in the charity sector

Gina Long has lived what she says has been a "very amazing life", but she never expected to wake up one day in her 60s and feel a desire to host her own art exhibition.

From raising millions for charity, being friends with football legend Sir Bobby Robson, to being appointed MBE, she has had a long varied career.

In 2020, it was global superstar and Suffolk's own Ed Sheeran who opened her eyes to the world of art and she began dabbling with paint from her Bury St Edmunds home.

The 64-year-old has since created more than 30 pieces of work ready for her debut exhibition, Square Peg Round Hole, being held for free at St Edmundsbury Cathedral on Wednesday and Thursday.

Six years ago, Sheeran donated one of his first abstract paintings to Long to auction for her charity work.

At the time, the painting, called Dab 2, was the only artwork Sheeran had made available for public sale, and it fetched £40,000.

News imageEd Harvey A woman stands between two large pieces of artwork that are taller than her. The artwork is divided into two white rectangles in black frames. The one of the left has multicoloured squares on it, with a large white space in the middle, apart from a lone small, green square in the middle of it. The one of the right is made up of multicoloured circles which would fit in the white space of the one on the left, if superimposed on it. The woman has shoulder length brown, curly hair and she wears glasses along with white overalls that are splattered in paint.Ed Harvey
Long's Square Peg Round Hole exhibition features 32 original pieces of work

Inspired by Sheeran's abstract paintwork, Long transformed her greenhouse into a studio, and she said the rest was history.

"I woke up two and a half years ago and said to my husband Andrew 'I've got to paint Square Peg Round Hole', and that is truly how it has begun," she explained.

"It's all been so organically lovely, but a complete revelation in my life.

"I, in no way, thought in my latter years I would be an artist."

News imageEd Harvey A woman sits on the back of a small lorry the doors of which have been opened. She is smiling as she looks away from the camera. She has shoulder length brown hair and wears white overalls covered in paint. Canvasses in bubble wrap are in lorry behind her.Ed Harvey
More than 40 students from West Suffolk College will also help with Long's event

Long said this new chapter, and specifically this exhibition, had been about "painting the harsh, messy truth about life" and was for those who had felt out of place.

"I often say, I've lived a very amazing life, and I've failed at times, and I've succeeded," she continued.

"But I've rarely neatly fitted, and so on my canvas is the messy truth about real life."

News imageEd Harvey A drone image of pieces of artwork resting on grass. Each piece is different, but feature patterns of different coloured squares and circles. A woman stands on the edge of all the work looking over them all.Ed Harvey
Music by composer Terry Devine-King and percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie will form part of the exhibition's opening experience

The exhibition at the cathedral features 32 artworks, each with bold colours and interlocking squares and circles.

Helping set it up has been Emma Roodhouse, who was recently involved in curating the John Constable Hay Wain exhibition at Ipswich's Christchurch Mansion.

Long's main message is one of empowerment and she encouraged people to "put your head above the parapet".

"I hope it speaks to anyone also who's ever felt out of place, out of depth, and celebrating the act of simply showing up as yourself despite the pressures not to do so," she added.

Long was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2015 for charitable services, having raised more than £9m over the decades.

A close friend of Sir Bobby, who died in 2009 from cancer, she also created the Sir Bobby Auction in his memory to raise money for charities, including the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

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