The Patriot Art Foundation
The Patriot Art Foundation has strong ties to Mount Pleasant, particularly
the I’ON neighborhood. With several of its board members residing in I’ON,
including Martha Waggoner, Susan Marlowe and Don Higgins, the national
organization is in good hands.
Started in 2019 by Charleston artist Mary Whyte, the initiative is the result of
Whyte’s groundbreaking exhibition We the People: Portraits of Veterans in
America. In a project that took the artist over seven years to complete, Whyte
traveled the country to paint one veteran from each of the fifty states. With the
goal that the 50 large-scale portraits represent the broad diversity of the 18
million living Americans who have served this country, Whyte included veterans
of all ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds, and who served in various conflicts and
capacities. Her realistic portraits depict veterans as they are today, in their
various professions and vocations as teachers, farmers, ranchers, taxi drivers
and great-grandmothers.
When the exhibition debuted at the City Gallery in Charleston, more than 22
thousand people visited in just six weeks, many of them veterans. Observing
their response and how they felt “seen”, Whyte made the connection between art
and healing. “For me,” Whyte said, “painting has always been a pleasure, a
meditative practice almost. I don’t have PTSD, but I thought that the act of
painting could be pleasurable or even helpful to those who do.”
Five years later, the foundation is actively serving veterans across the country,
intending to reach one thousand service men and women next year and
then growing exponentially every year after. Via free art instruction and supplies
through VA hospitals, online art courses, and small group mentorships, the
foundation is reaching an expanding group of veterans who might otherwise feel
isolated. Newly installed Executive Director Peggy Tadej from the Washington,
DC area is instrumental in the outreach. “We teach veterans how to paint at
their kitchen tables,” says Tadej, “and then connect them to self-expression, each
other, and the community through art.”
The results have been heartwarming and often moving. Board President Martha
Waggoner keeps track of and encourages the many veterans from whom she
receives almost daily correspondence. “One veteran”, said Martha, “wrote me
the following; I have severe PTSD and art is the only thing I’ve got that
gets me along. I've never been to art school or taken an art class before. This is
so eye-opening as I tried watercolor but never knew I could get this much out of
it. Thank you so much.”
Teachers make up a large component of the foundation. Susan Marlowe, a
retired art teacher, is the Board’s guiding force in implementing practical learning
steps and ways of encouraging beginning art students. As she explains, “The
arts are a universal language. Combined with some instruction,
imagination, and infinite subject matter, the artist can share an experience,
preserve an image, and express emotion.”
Another board member residing in I’ON, Don Higgins, has steered the foundation
from its inception. As Treasurer and Director Emeritus of the South Carolina
Aquarium, Don’s expertise as a bank executive has been instrumental in forming
a solid mission, as well as establishing a strategic plan and sustainable budget
for the initiative.
This November, the Patriot Art Foundation will be holding a live event Saturday,
November 9th aboard the USS Yorktown. In honor of Veterans Day, local artists
will be giving free art supplies and hands on instruction to veterans. In addition,
Whyte will be giving a painting demonstration to the public that will be
simulcasted live to participating veterans at the Army Museum in Washington,
DC, as well as at the National Veterans Memorial Museum in Columbus, Ohio.
The Patriot Art Foundation is a national 501c3, sustainable by donations, grants,
and the work of numerous, selfless volunteers, who often cite that it is they who
have been given the biggest gift. As Whyte says, “Giving opens the door for
receiving. By giving what we have, we spread joy not only to others, but to
ourselves.”
For information on how you might want to give or become involved with the
Patriot Art Foundation, contact Martha Waggoner at