A Cause Greater Than Self - What We Can Learn From Our Veterans : Mary Whyte : Tedxriveroaks

American figurative artist, Mary Whyte, details her quest to paint a portrait of America. Her talk recounts her decision to travel to each state to paint veterans and some of the fascinating lessons she learned about American veterans along the way. Ms. Whyte is known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people. Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR.

The author of seven books including We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America, Whyte’s work has also been featured in many international publications, including periodicals and books in China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Taiwan.

Recipient: Portrait Society of America's Gold Medal, the Carolinas Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Award, and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, SC’s highest honor in the arts.

Recipient: 2020 National DAR Medal of Honor and the 2020 NSDAR Women in the Arts Award. In 2021 Mary Whyte received an honorary doctorate degree from Converse University in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

In 2019 Whyte founded the Patriot Art Foundation as a means to honor and inspire veterans through the arts. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

#art #english #humanities #military #painting #personalgrowth #purpose #storytelling #tedxtalks