056 http://www.AmericanArtCollector.com
miner or a tattoo artist and started with that.”
But veterans make up less than 10 percent of the
United States’ population. “There were a lot of phone
calls and a lot of research,” Whyte admits. Local chap-
ters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and small-town
chambers of commerce, who were proud of their local
heroes, turned out to be invaluable resources.
And then, she traveled. In California, she met a home-
less veteran named Dennis—the subject of Bunker.
“I knew I had to include at least one homeless person in
the series because on any given night we have 40,000
homeless veterans,” she says. She had to be led into the
forested encampment by another homeless veteran for
safety, and says, “Once I met him, I was struck by the
fact that this was a man who had lived very honorably,
and encountered a string of misfortunes that led him
to this situation.”
In South Dakota, Whyte painted a Native American
woman in traditional dancing regalia who impressed
her with her patriotism. As Whyte took photographs
and made sketches, the veteran told her how she’d
pawned her engagement ring so she could afford
to get the regalia made. The beadwork in the elabo-rate costume features several American flags and
bald eagles.
One of the oldest veterans featured in the series is
an African American woman who served in World War
II, manning the post offices for the Tuskegee Airmen.
They shared a powerful experience together. “I went to
visit her in Savannah and she was wearing a red jacket
and an American flag pin,” Whyte describes. “She very
proudly said the pledge of allegiance for me.”
Whyte’s goal was to portray these service members
not in the heat of battle but as they are now. These
teachers, taxi drivers, ferry boat captains and junk
dealers are the hidden heroes within each and every
community across the United States.
“Through this project, I discovered what an extraor-
dinarily beautiful country this is, and I was also contin-
uously impressed by the people I met,” she says. Aside
from their history of service, one connecting thread
that united every subject was their sense of honor. She
describes, “They may not be in the military anymore,
but they are living out their lives as honorable commu-
nity members and family members.”
Working from life, photos, imagination and memory,3
Flurries, watercolor on
paper, 233�8 x 31"
4
Mary Whyte in her
studio with paintings
from We The People.3