Muralist Adam Long was busy in the Indiana Uplands region this month. In fact, Long keeps busy in the Uplands almost every month, filling nearly every county with color and light as he drapes the sides of buildings and walls of businesses with his bright, unique artistic style.
This month’s project: the first phase of the community-designed mural on the east wall of the Lost River Co-op and Cafe in Paoli. Buffaloes stand tall against a wooded background of earth-toned colors, their fur illuminated by bright specks of color. The Indiana Uplands’ newest piece of public art honors the historic Buffalo Trace, a 12-to-20-foot-wide path used by migrating bison, Native Americans, and early settlers in the region. The mural is a product of conversations and public input, reflecting the community’s values, voices, and identity, according to the Lost River Co-op’s website.
A muralist and painter based in Bloomington, Long has spent the last six years creating connections through his art, completing more than 200 murals.
Most of his murals are visible as you drive through the winding hills of the Uplands, including his latest completed creation: a 40-by-150-foot Monon train in Orleans painted on three massive silos. Some of Long’s murals are tucked away, such as the large Welcome to Brown County mural that greets performers backstage at the Brown County Music Center in Nashville. He’s painted the largest waving American flag atop Bear Hardware in Nashville and Indiana’s largest ocean mural at Jasper’s Southwestern Indiana Child Advocacy Center — a personal favorite that took over 500 hours to complete.
“When kids get there, they’re getting ready to be asked questions by policemen in little rooms” said Long. “So the idea was to give them something bright and happy and distracting, a different place to think of before they go in,” he said.
Another personal favorite is the Hope mural for cancer awareness on the side of My Sports Locker in Bloomington, depicting his father lifting him as a child with a paintbrush in hand.
“I got to paint my dad 16 feet tall, holding me when I was 1 year old in 1979. That’s probably my favorite, just because I get to see it and it reminds me of how good a dad he was,” Long said.
Boosting community pride, Long’s art often sparks stories from the people around him. With a paintbrush in hand, he is often visited by residents wanting to share their part of history in the Indiana Uplands.
“The stories I get, and the people who stop and actually take the time to express gratitude and tell me why it’s important, have been a driving force behind every next step I take,” Long said.
“Becoming that mural and that situation is more important than just getting there, doing the job, and leaving. Every time I talk to someone and hear a story, they probably don’t understand the impact, but being able to digest what I’m hearing and put it into the passion makes the next connection even stronger for the community. Instead of it just being about the artwork, it’s about the history of the community together, in a sense.”
While working on the large mural in Orleans, Long tells of an older woman who told him about her husband driving one of the Monon trains, and how important it was at the time. Her husband had passed, but she shared how he would have loved to see the trains on the silos. Long’s project reminded her of him.
“That connection helped push me to make sure everything was right. I dug into every aspect of that Monon train, even after I knew I was going to do it and give it justice. That story was very important. I worked an extra 10 or 15 hours because of it. That was impactful,” he said.
“She just thought she was coming to tell me something sweet that meant something to her, but it actually meant something to me just as much.”
For Long, the rolling hills and forests of the Uplands provide the perfect backdrop.
“It’s such a pretty place to be able to do this,” he said. “If I went north of Indianapolis, which I’ve been a bazillion times, you just don’t get the opportunity to have these kinds of hills, trees, and forests. I don’t take it for granted. I love that fall is so beautiful, and being able to paint in an area that’s already very, very pretty means the world to me. I love being outdoors, love the colors, and being from Bloomington makes it even better, because I get to do this for people I know.”
No matter the location or subject, Long’s goal remains the same: connect communities across Southern Indiana and the Indiana Uplands by bringing history to life. By creating murals that reflect local history and give residents a sense of ownership, Long believes communities can strengthen connections, build pride in their towns, care for their surroundings, and ultimately invest more in local businesses and infrastructure.
When these murals go up, Long enjoys watching how people look at them with a kind of childlike wonder. In that moment, what usually divides people fades away, leaving a shared sense of beauty and connection—something Long sees across every community.
“Every time I paint something and someone likes it, it brings them back to their core as a human,” he said. “It’s supposed to celebrate who we are. … It’s all-inclusive and about togetherness.”
When thinking back on the spirit of the Uplands, Long reflects, “This is the best place in the state to live,” citing not just the rolling hills and forests, but also the close-knit communities and rich history that make the region so inspiring to paint and be a part of.
Further planting his footprint in the Uplands, Long is opening Art Happens in Nashville, a gallery of his artwork connected to the Antique Alley Beer Garden, where he can perform, paint, and sell both originals and prints—while also bringing his murals to communities across the region.
As for his next murals in the Uplands, Long said he’ll be heading to Montgomery later in August, and new murals are coming to Loogootee and Salem in 2026.