Hilary Burt: Ivan DePena is an artist based here in Charlotte. He has artwork all across the country and around the world. Truist came to us to find them an artist. His ability to combine architecture, art, design, and technology is why we thought Ivan was perfect for this job.
Ivan DePena: We're here at my studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. Been a professional artist for over twenty five years now. When I start working on a project, try to get to this sort of essence of the idea.
Is there something visual that represents it?
In this case, the sculpture itself does have a definitive moment where it's frozen in time. It's that moment of tension where the game is either won or lost. The goal essentially is to get your ball into that cup. That's what I tried to capture freezing that moment in time.
Now the challenge becomes how do we build it?
Graham Bennett: My name is Graham Bennett from Bennett Awards. We work with artists to create iconic pieces and often they're one of a kind. We hold ourselves to the standard that gallery pieces are held to. When I first saw the design, I could tell that this was more than just a trophy.
There was a lot of symbolism behind it with all the lines and geometry of movement. It has to be extremely precise, down to the hundredth of an inch.
When creating this award, we started with a billet. We loaded it into our machines and started milling of the design for this tournament.
From there, it gets pulled out and polished. Then for the base, we sourced world class Mount Airy granite from North Carolina.
In order to make these trophies, takes a lot of experience. Tinkering and figuring out what works, it takes years to to master this craft.
And it takes the help of other talented small businesses to bring it to life. My hope is that this trophy not only means something to the player that wins the championship, but also to the entire city of Charlotte.
After all of the hours that we've put into the project, the inspiration that I've gotten from my collaborators and the energy that they've given back to the project finally culminating in this object that I'm really ecstatic about. I'm hoping that Charlotte and the athletes and everybody else are just as proud of it as I am.
Adam Sperling: What makes a trophy special is the story behind it. You look across the history of professional golf, there's trophies that are over a hundred years old, there's trophies that reflect moments, and there's trophies that reflect communities and the hands that come together to build the event.
Johnny Harris: Everything we built, it doesn't just happen by chance. Truist has been an integral part of making Charlotte great, and it's the kind of thing where sports is bringing the whole community together.
The Truist Championship was in Pennsylvania for just one year, but hopefully the positive impact will last for years to come.
Cobbs Creek is a historic golf course known for inclusion and acceptance. In the spirit of that history, Cobbs Creek Foundation is reinventing their 350-acre site as a self-sustaining, dynamic education and recreation campus to create unique opportunities for Philadelphia youth.
First Tee is an international nonprofit that empowers kids and teens by teaching life skills and lessons through golf. Greater Philadelphia is one of their highest-performing chapters, operating two public golf courses, 20 program locations, and serving over 45,000 students a year.