- An American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people.

Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide.

The author of seven books including, "We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America".

Mary Whyte's work has also been featured in many international publications.

Her most recent books, "We The People: Portraits Of Veterans in America" is a tour through the heart and soul the duty and the commitment of the people who protect our very lives.

I'm Holly Jackson, join us as we bring you powerful stories from both new and established Southern authors as we sit By the River.

(upbeat music) ♪ - [Voice Over] By the River is brought to you in part by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry: strengthening community, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USCB, The Pat Conroy Literary Center.

Hi there, and thanks for joining us.

It's another beautiful day here at our waterfront studio in Beaufort.

Thanks so much for joining us here for By the River.

I'm your host, Holly Jackson.

You know, as part of our love letter to Southern writing, we are bringing you powerful stories from both new and established South Carolina and Southern authors.

And we are here today with Mary Whyte, and we're talking about, "We The People: Portraits Of veterans in America", a beautiful cover, beautiful book, looking forward to hearing more about this.

Ms. Whyte thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you, Holly, I'm delighted to be here today with you.

- Thank you tell us just let's go ahead and start at, what is this book all about and what inspired it?

- Well, what inspired it was really the previous book and exhibition called Working South, and as that was coming to a close where I had painted the "Vanishing Workers In The South" I thought, "Well, what's my next act gonna be?"

And then I thought "What if I painted in a portrait "of America, and what if I went to all 50 states "and painted with just one person from each "of the 50 states?"

And then I began thinking, "Well how could you "possibly choose just one American and what makes "a person American?"

I mean would they have had to have been born here?

Were they registered to vote?

Did they eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

What makes a person American?

And that's when I realized I believe our truest Americans are our greatest patriots or really anyone willing to lay down their life for our country, so our veterans.

And so the idea for this project was born and the very first thing I did was I drew out a map of the United States and I taped it to my studio wall and I set out to meet veterans in every state.

And my goal was to paint them after they came out of service and from ages, the youngest was 20, the oldest was 94.

And so that I would include all ages, all backgrounds, all five branches of the military.

And I did the project.

It took a lot longer, like most projects do, than we think when we set out, it took seven years and I did it almost entirely in secret.

- I love that part, let's get into that.

Why was it a secret?

- Well, at first I wanted to make sure... You don't wanna announce something that you're doing something unless you're absolutely sure you can complete it.

So I wanted to be sure that I could complete it.

And also I wanted to keep the idea fresh and a surprise when it would come out.

- Was that part hard for you?

- Well, yes and no.

I mean, it wasn't so hard for me but the very few people that knew about it, we had to make sure that they could you know, were sworn to the secrecy.

(laughter) - To secrecy, right.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- So let's name a state that perhaps you are not so familiar.

How do you start?

I mean are you just opening the phone book and looking for something?

Do you start with the chamber or do you know a friend who has a friend who lives there and do you know any veterans, how does that go?

- I wanted this to include all veterans so that anybody, any veteran or civilian that would walk into this exhibition would feel that this included them somehow.

So I made a list of all the kinds of people that I wanted to get, everything from an astronaut down to a homeless man.

And then everything in between like a dairy farmer and a tattoo artist and a school teacher and a lobster man.

And then I thought well, I'll probably find a coal miner in West Virginia, and I'll probably find a lobster man in Rhode Island and then everything else filled in.

And so you would think it'd be easy to find for instance a truck driver, but to find a truck driver in Ohio that's a woman and a veteran, that I probably made 20 to 25 phone calls to trucking companies.

So a lot of it was internet research and then a lot of phone calls and I found that actually my best resource was often small town mayors or small town chamber of commerces.

'Cause I could just roll into town and say, "Who do you have?"

And they'd say, "Well we've got Frank... - So-and-so down the street call the diner are they in lunch there today?

This lady is coming down.

- Exactly.

- Love that part, yeah, that's great.

Okay so once you've zeroed in on one person, then what happens, how much time do you spend with them and was that kind of difficult?

Because they've got a job to do.

I'm sure they didn't have a lot of time to... - That's right a lot of them are working - Right.

- And so they like for instance, the window washer I mean I talked to his foreman and he said "Yes you can come onsite" and so I followed the window washer around and at one point the foreman said, "Ma'am, you've got to hurry up "here because you're holding us all back."

And so I mean their time with me was limited.

So I did also have to rely on photographs.

So I took my camera and got photos of things, details that I wanted to be sure I remember like maybe details of the clothing or the background or the setting and then.. - So there's no paint in the field?

- Sometimes, yes.

- Okay - Yes, paint and sketching in the field.

- Okay - But briefly.

- Okay.

- The bulk of it was done back in my Charleston studio.

- Okay.

Tell me about some of the relationships that have evolved because of this experience.

- Oh my gosh, I made, some very fine friendships came out of it.

In fact on the way here I spoke with one of the veterans, Jodi from Maine who was a harbor patrol officer and patrolled 200 miles of Maine rugged coastline.

And I just talked to her on the phone just an hour ago and just chatting with her about hopefully getting to see her when we go to Maine soon.

- [Holly] Wonderful.

- So some very fine friendships did come out of this.

- And I know you have this exhibit the first one was in Charleston.

- Yes.

- Talk about those, the moments of the unveiling because this was the first time that these people were seeing, right?

- Yes, yes we had to keep these paintings secret.

This is seven years.

So the paintings were just kept in storage, out of sight and so even the veterans hadn't seen their paintings because I didn't want them to be putting it on Facebook and getting it out there so we raised the money to bring in the veterans that I had painted to come to the opening in Charleston and see their paintings for the very first time.

And oh, it was fantastic.

- Did a good amount come?

- Yes we had out of the 50 we had 30 came.

- Wonderful.

- And came to the open-- - I'm sure it was a nice experience for them?

- Oh my gosh it was wonderful and... - Some of them probably had never Charleston?

- There was a lot of press there as you would imagine wanting to film the veterans and getting their reaction you know what was it like seeing their painting for the first time.

And many of them brought family with them and that was just so wonderful and then hearing the response from the public, but especially other veterans coming to see this exhibition was so meaningful to me and at times you know, just so very moving that I... Their response and I had to excuse myself and walk away because it was just so emotional at times.

- Sure.

Well, you obviously had a great deal of respect for veterans to even start the project, but I imagine that grew throughout the seven years of being around these people and hearing some of their stories.

- Yes I'm not a veteran.

I mean I wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes in bootcamp.

But my respect, this respect for them did grow throughout this project and what I learned from them.

And in fact that's what really prompted me to start the Foundation, The Patriot Art Foundation That is, our mission is to give veterans a means of self-expression through art.

Means of connection and purpose, a way of them to tell their story through art.

- And I think that's our first time we've mentioned that part, so tell me about the royalties from the book where it goes and-- - Oh well, all the royalties from the book, "we the people" go to the Patriot Art Foundation to help fund, you know, for instance getting art supplies to the veterans and our classes that we're putting in place.

- That's fabulous Tell me about just, you of course know this, what does art do for you emotionally?

How can that be, in a sense, therapeutic for some of what they're going through?

- Well I think for me it's, I always call it the great escape, because when I look at my paintings I mean you could hold up a painting I'd say yes, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine.

And I can tell you what it's about and why I did it but I don't actually remember painting it.

- Wow.

- And I think it's because at that moment when you're fully engaged in painting it's a portion of the brain taking over and it is therapeutic.

And so it's not only therapeutic for us when we create art really any kind, that I think in some ways it's therapeutic when we can view art.

I mean, they've done some studies even with doctors and had them sit in a room with a painting, and just sit there and look at this painting for 10 minutes before you go into surgery.

And they said yes, you know, they felt more centered and focused on their work.

- Where did it all begin for you, becoming an artist?

- Oh well I don't remember a time.

- That you did, what you were-- [Mary] That I wasn't.

[Holly] Really, so you were a child with a brush in your hand?

- Yeah, fortunately I had parents that were both very encouraging for me and for my art and the very first painting was a drawing that I sold, I was in eighth grade and I just said, "Wow, you mean they pay you to do this?

"This is fantastic, this is better than babysitting."

(laughter) - That's great.

All right, so what are you up to now?

- Well right now a lot of my time is focused on the foundation.

And I'm still doing some portraits on commission I just this week finished a portrait that was on commission and then getting back to my own painting really just people, I mean there's nothing I love more than painting people from all walks of life.

- Let's get back to the books specifically the states.

Of course, I imagine people watching wanna know who made South Carolina.

- Yes.

- How did you narrow it down and who did you pick for South Carolina?

- South Carolina I saved for the very last.

And I thought in case there was something that I missed along the way, I would say... - You wanted to get this one, right and ... - And I thought yes there was one thing in South Carolina that I did miss and it's big not only in the military, but everywhere and that's single moms.

So that is the subject of South Carolina, a single mother because to me it's remarkable that any single mom can raise children but this is a single mom that not only raised her children but also managed to juggle this with her service in the military.

- Now I know that this might be unlikely but I am curious, you spent so much time with these 50 people.

Have any of them chosen to take up art?

Do you know?

- Oh, what an interesting question that is.

- I know it might be very unlikely that that's the case but, you know, because they've seen and they've heard the story of what it's done for you.

- Well I certainly hope that it would that it would encourage them.

And I have worked with, because the foundation a few veterans so far and hope to work with a lot more in the future, and it is fun and meaningful to hear their response to drawing or painting or even taking photographs and what it means for them.

- Okay let's go through the pages.

I know that hopefully we'll be able to... Those watching can see up close.

Plus we can do that through the magic of editing, but tell us how the book reads what people are seeing from state to state.

Are they in any kind of order as far as the states or... - Well we just arrange alphabetically.

- Okay well that works.

- So that we're interested in finding their state.. - That is in order.

- And the one thing that we included in this book is, I included the first thumbnail sketch, sort of the idea on the back of the.. - And I love that part, that was really cool to see that.

- So on each opening spread you see on one side this very rough sketch, and this is sort of my idea of how am I gonna paint this veteran?

You know what do I wanna include in this?

And in some cases I might've done many thumbnail sketches but this might've been what we call the first fire, that first idea.

- And is that what's done in the field or no?

- Often, yes.

Often that was done in the field.

And then coming back so I wanted to show the viewer that as artists, we just don't walk up to a painting and you just sort of pull it down like a movie screen.

That there's a discovery process, you know of lost and found some you eliminate this idea, you work towards this idea, and it often happens in these little tiny sketches.

- It's neat to see how it started off.

Tell me about the exhibit where all it's gone and where it's headed.

- Well, it was of course it opened in Charleston and then it went to Columbus, Ohio, to The National Veterans Memorial and Museum there.

Right now as we're doing the filming it's in Huntsville, Alabama, and then it will go, in the fall, it will go to the Washington area, to The National Museum of the Marines, where it will be there for eight months.

So I'm very excited to have it there in the Washington area.

- And do you make these spots?

- Do I help arrange them?

- As far as do you actually go?

- Oh, oh yes.

- Okay.

- Yes, yes, I'm there for the openings and sometimes for classes or to go back and to speak.

- Okay.

You mentioned that you were fortunate enough to have parents who really fostered this as far as getting you into the arts.

Who would you say - and it may be them - are your biggest inspirations in what you do?

- Well, I would say now it would be the veterans.

You know what an interesting question.

I've always said I could name other artists but I think right now the veterans are a big inspiration to me that how art can be meaningful and painting just everyday people what that means just to paint a trucker, or a school teacher, or a cook or a food truck operator and to have them view their own painting and just that they felt like, "Wow just having to be in a painting "just has given my life great validation "and great meaning."

- Whenever you were out there I imagine since they knew the purpose of your presence there, did you find that they were up and telling stories maybe some things that, in terms of them being a veteran and-- - Yes.

- You know the worries, the things that are bothering them and was that tough not to include some of their story and their page?

- Well I will say that they did, many of them, some were shy, but many of them opened up to me, and you know, in fact one veteran a Vietnam veteran, when I went to his home, brought out a scrapbook of photos he had taken in the field in the worst part of what was happening in Vietnam.

And his wife said to me later she says, "Mary, he has never shown anyone that scrapbook, "you know except for her many many years."

So he let go and so he did open up to me.

So I did hear many moving stories and you know when people look at these paintings I'm very aware that they're not gonna recognize the person in the painting they'll probably never meet them, but my hope is that they recognize the emotion.

And that's the connection that I'm looking to get in these paintings and really any of my paintings but particularly these paintings, that people can look at this painting and understand for instance the absolute exhaustion of for instance say of a firefighter or the exuberance of a postal worker, you know a job well done type of feeling.

- Through your words if you can take us into your studio, whenever you are at your best painting, is it loud, is it quiet, is it dark, is it light, what time of day, take us into that.

- My ideal studio would have nothing in it except the painting and me and the subject matter so there would be no distraction.

My studio is in a building in downtown Charleston.

Where I work is actually on the second floor with windows on three sides, so the light is wonderful, and that's to me the most important thing is having light and being without interruption.

Those to me are critical.

So for me an ideal painting day is being in you know, as early as I can and starting to paint and painting I'll take breaks of course, and then maybe paint up till three, four o'clock and then from then on I might do correspondence.

When I start a painting it's in total silence, in the middle part of a painting it can be kind of tedious if you're painting, for instance, if I'm painting your jacket with the texture and the pattern and that-- - Right, yeah.

- That can be tedious, - [Holly] Sure.

- So then I'll turn on a talk radio or classical music.

[Holly] Mm hmm.

Well, you said something about without interruption and that made me think of the fact that most of us were without interruption for quite a while during the quarantine time.

I'm interested to hear how that strange moment in time impacted you at all as an artist.

- Well, you would think if you knew ahead of time I'm gonna have you know, 12 months of solitude that you can maybe plan this differently.

- I think you know its gonna be over in two weeks.

- Right.

- Right, so it took us really all by surprise and we were continuously readapting to this.

So I did a lot of self portraits in this time because I couldn't go out to the models.

These ideas for people that I wanted to go paint, that was now off the table.

So I thought well here I am.

And so I did several self portraits.

And in fact I did a couple Zoom classes online with students across the country, in which we all did self portraits.

- And I imagine that was the new experience for you all, the virtual things, did you-- - Yes, that's new territory?

- What do you think of it?

- Well I think it's here to stay.

I think that the pluses of virtual learning is that you're able to reach students that might be not able to travel or might be reluctant to travel.

And so for that reason it's very good.

I don't think anything can take the place of in-person you know, on the spot, me being able to take the student's hand and the brush-- - Oh sure - And say this is how you move it across the paper and this quickly you have to do it.

- Right.

- So it means that I can't do, but it certainly is new and I think that we'll all have to embrace that-- - Whether we like it or not it's here.

- Right - Tell me what's next for you?

- Well next is certainly more painting that I would like to do both near and far and of course more writing.

And I'd like to do a book in the future on really developing creativity.

- Wonderful, Well that does it for the show.

Thank you so much for joining us... - [Mary] Well thank you... - It's been a pleasure talking to you.

It really has.

And everyone, thank you for joining us for By the River .

We're gonna leave you now with a look at our Lowcountry Poet's Corner, and we'll see you next time, By The River.

(upbeat music) [Voice over] I met America at a neighborhood bar.

He offered me a shot of rum and I reminded him that Captain Morgan was a slave owner.

So the bartender ackwardly slipped another liquid lie down my throat.

I ordered another drink and was channeled by dark spirits the courage of black ghosts who haunt American dreams.

I told him I loved him and I wanted him to sleep well.

"But I know I've been in your nightmares," I said.

I want to be your friend, but only if it's a deep relationship, only if you show me that you are not scared of your baggage.

Bring your whole history to the table.

America cracked open another beer as a tear ran down his face.

He said, "I was born in a house not my own, "and my fathers demanded that their portraits hang on every wall."

"White paint covers each brown brick in our backyard "as a museum of unmarked graves."

"Despite this, a garden grows," I said.

"Every home can be torn down and rebuilt again."

"But I've been told I shouldn't completely let you in," he said.

Some people in my family stand in the doorway blocking the entrance.

He left before I could tell him that my people have a history of finding ways inside broken spaces and making them whole again.

- Gus's story will be a single white page included among the many on the hillside of Arlington National Cemetery.

In time his great great-grandchildren will celebrate Memorial Day grilling hot dogs while wearing silly red, white, and blue hats and he may be forgotten.

Regardless, three times a week, the 92 year old widower comes to stand at the door of the VFW.

He is there to greet visitors, and if they ask, tell them what World War II was like for an 18 year old boy from a small mill town in South Carolina.

Given in three short words, Gus's answer to my question about his service was the ultimate call of duty, all coming down to the significance of a tiny pin that he wore on his lapel.

Whether it's how long it takes to pass freedom on to the next generation, or to make a painting, it is a simple measure of ones dedication and committment all my life.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Voice Over] By the River is brought to you in part by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Community Foundation of the Low Country: strengthening community, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USCB, The Pat Conroy Literary Center.