Rick Wilson
Honorary Brown Countian
~ story and photo by Rachel Berenson Perry
“ Indiana is my home. And I love all the geographical regions here. There’ s a neverending array of things to paint.”
It hardly seems fair, but some people have talent and skill in more than one creative endeavor. Rick Wilson, now known for his accomplished landscape paintings, has been a respected bluegrass musician for many years. His father, a bluegrass instrumentalist, moved in the early 1950s from Kentucky to Edinburgh, Indiana, to work at Camp Atterbury military post. He encouraged Rick, the second of five sons and one daughter, to play guitar at an early age.
Rick joined the Harden brothers’ Brown County Boys in 1970. Ten years later the band became Pine Mountain. Frequenting area bluegrass festivals, Rick met notable artist and banjo player C. W. Mundy long before they both realized their common interest in creating paintings. As Rick tells it:
“ We’ d jammed all night at a bluegrass festival in Westfield in the early‘ 90s. The sun was coming up and we were both dog tired, so we sat in my car and talked for a while. C. W. and Rebecca were going to France. I said,‘ Sounds like a fun vacation.’ He said,‘ No, it’ s for work.’ I asked,‘ What do you do?’ and he told me,‘ I’ m an oil painter.’‘ No kidding,’ I said.‘ So am I.’”
In 2003, when Rick was laid off after thirty years at Kawneer Aluminum( architectural materials) in Franklin, he decided to pursue fine art professionally. C. W. called and said,“ Hey, I hear you’ re gonna be an artist. Well, it’ s one thing to start a career and something else to maintain it.” He invited Rick to his studio for the next few weeks and then mentored him through his early vocational change.“ I owe my career to C. W.,” Rick said.
26 Our Brown County March / April 2023