NEPTUNE FESTIVAL’S “MASTERS OF THE GREENS”

BEACH

VIRGINIA

Richard Wilson, of Wendell, North Carolina, won the “First Place Award” at the 49th annual Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach last weekend. Wilson’s pastel image “Masters of the Greens” was the top exhibit. This is the second time he has won the top prize.

Wilson said the painting honors Lee Elder, the first African-American to win the Master’s Golf Tournament in 1975. Wilson intended to give the painting to Elder in 2021 when he was honored by the tournament, but COVID prevented it. Elder died the following year.

Wilson said the painting is part of his “Shadows” series featuring AfricanAmerican children following in the “footsteps of trailblazers” in sports and other areas.

Wilson said he deliberately injects subtle historical symbols into the works. In the case of “Masters of the Greens” the two Black boys represent Black golf caddies, dressed in the uniforms worn at the Augusta, Georgia Golf Club.

Wilson said the club’s owners once ruled that Black men could only work as caddies and not play on the course. He said the caddies enabled the success of top white golfers by coaching and providing strategy.

The two boys in the painting have the numbers 34 and 82 on their uniforms representing the span of years when Black caddies only served on the course and were paid little. Today none of the caddies are Black and are making six-figure salaries, Wilson said.

Wilson said there are tributes not only to Elder, but Tiger Woods, the first Black golfer to win the Masters. “I am invited to schools to talk about my work and the historic symbols I put in them because it is not being taught in our schools today,” he said.

For more information about his works go to www.richardwilsonart.com