BUFFALO, N.Y. — Right before Christmas, 2 On Your Side Claudine Ewing shared how one of former President Barack Obama's Christmas gifts this year was made by Buffalo artist, exoneree Valentino Dixon.
"Merry Christmas Barack. I hope that you like your gift and when Michelle reached out to me I was just like this is not happening, it's like a dream come true," Dixon said in a video message to the former president.
Well, the former president got the gift, which was a 20 by 30 inch drawing of the Augusta National 12th hole. He has shared his reaction to the gift in a shout-out post on Instagram.
Obama called Dixon a terrific artist, saying "it's an incredible piece," and adding "but the story behind it is even better. Valentino grew up in Buffalo, New York, and developed a great skill and passion for drawing from a young age. Unfortunately, when he was 21, he was wrongfully convicted for a crime he didn't commit."
Dixon served 27 years in prison for a murder someone else confessed to, before being exonerated. He fine-tuned his art skills while in prison under the wrongful conviction, and is known for his art focused on the subject of golf.
"Claudine, I didn't know what to think I didn't know what to do. I mean, I didn't if I was in space, I don't know what to say, I'm speechless," Dixon told 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing.
It was Michelle Obama who had heard of Dixon's story and contacted him to have a golf painting commissioned.
"It doesn't get any bigger than this, I hope that this experience, this connection right here allows for me to sit down with him and a conversation about prison reform and what we need to do to make the system, the justice system, more fair and equal that's my goal because the system is not designed to give the poor person a fair trial," said Dixon in an interview.