Richard Alan Masters
Richard Alan Masters is a graphic designer, studio artist, and coin designer.
Academic career
Masters graduated from the University of Iowa art school where he received a BA, MA, and MFA. He subsequently moved to Wisconsin where he worked as a freelance illustrator and as a professor of graphic design at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh where he was selected for the SNC Professor of International Relations Endowed Professorship Award.Studio art career
Masters works most often in graphite or colored pencil, though he has worked in other media. His work is often described as painstakingly detailed, with subject matter ranging from nature scenes and architectural representations to the somber aspects of city life and homelessness. His works have been shown at invited and juried exhibitions throughout the world, and have won numerous awards, including the Allied Artists of American top award, the Audrey Love Memorial Award in 2021.Coin designs
In 2004, Masters became an inaugural member of the United States Mint's Artistic Infusion Program as a Master Designer. This program brought artists with expertise in visual arts to enrich and elevate the design of coins for the US Mint. He applied to the program as a lifelong coin collector. A prolific designer, his designs were selected for over 30 coins and medals. As of 2024, he is still an active member of the program, and the only remaining original member.His first design was the reverse of the Nebraska quarter for the State Quarters Program in 2006. His designs went on to garner awards such as the Coin of the Year award for best contemporary event in 2009 for his Little Rock [Central High School Desegregation silver dollar] design, an accomplishment repeated with the 2021 American Liberty High Relief Gold Coin, winning the award for best gold coin.
One of his designs, featuring a Samoa flying fox, a species of fruit bat, representing the National Park of American Samoa, was central to conspiracy theories that the United States government was involved in the dissemination of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. This theory was thoroughly debunked, but gave the coin design some short-lived infamy.
| Year | Design | Category | Notes |
| 2006 | State Quarters Program - Nebraska reverse | coin | |
| 2007 | Little Rock Central High School Desegregation silver dollar - obverse | coin | Winner of Coin of the Year Award |
| 2009 | Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Coin Program - reverse | coin | |
| 2009 | District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Program - Northern Mariana Islands reverse | coin | |
| 2011 | Native American $1 Coin Program - reverse | coin | |
| 2011 | First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program - Julia Grant reverse | coin and medal | |
| 2011 | United States Army Commemorative Coin Program – Silver obverse | coin | |
| 2011 | Medal of Honor Commemorative Coin Program – Silver reverse | coin | |
| 2012 | Star-Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin Program – Gold revers | coin | |
| 2013 | 5-Star Generals Commemorative Coin Program – Silver obverse | coin | |
| 2013 | First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Helen Taft reverse | coin and medal | |
| 2008 | Code Talkers Recognition Congressional Medals Program – Comanche Nation obverse | medal | |
| 2010 | Professor Muhammad Yunus Congressional Gold Medal – reverse | medal | |
| 2014 | First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Lou Hoover reverse | coin and medal | |
| 2015 | U.S. Marshals Service 225th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Program – Silver obverse | coin | |
| 2015 | First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Mamie Eisenhower obverse | coin and medal | |
| 2015 | First Special Service Force Congressional Gold Medal | medal | |
| 2016 | Presidential $1 Coins – Ronald Reagan obverse | coin | |
| 2016 | First Spouse Gold Coin and Medal Program – Patricia Ryan “Pat” Nixon obverse and reverse | coin and medal | |
| 2017 | America the Beautiful Quarters Program – Effigy Mounds National Monument reverse | coin | |
| 2018 | America the Beautiful Quarters Program – Apostle Islands National Lakeshore reverse | coin | |
| 2019 | American Innovation $1 Coin Program – Pennsylvania reverse | coin | |
| 2019 | American Legion Commemorative Coin Program – Clad obverse and reverse | coin | |
| 2019 | American Liberty High Relief Gold Coin and Silver Medal – obverse | coin and medal | |
| American Veterans Silver Medal – reverse | medal | ||
| 2020 | America the Beautiful Quarters Program – National Park of American Samoa reverse | coin | |
| 2020 | America the Beautiful Quarters Program – Salt River Bay [National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve] reverse | coin | |
| 2020 | American Innovation $1 Coin Program – Connecticut reverse | coin | |
| 2021 | American Liberty High Relief Gold Coin and Silver Medal – reverse | coin and medal | Winner of Coin of the Year Award |
| 2021 | U.S. Armed Forces Silver Medals Program – Coast Guard obverse | medal | |
| 2019 | Katherine Johnson Hidden Figures Bronze Medal - reverse | medal | |
| 2019 | Dorothy Vaughan Hidden Figures Bronze Medal - reverse | medal | |
| 2020 | Merrill’s Marauders Congressional Gold Medal – reverse | medal | |
| Presidential Medal Program – George W. Bush reverse | medal | ||
| Presidential Medal Program – Barack Obama obverse | medal |