Mary Whyte (born 1953 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American watercolor artist, a traditionalist preferring a representational style,[1] and the author of seven published books, who has earned awards for her large-scale watercolors.
[4] In 2016, the Portrait Society of America chose Whyte as the 2016 recipient of the Society's gold medal, their highest honor of "a lifelong dedication to excellence, as well as in recognition of a distinguished body of work that serves to foster and enhance fine art portraiture and figurative works in America.
In Whyte's Working South exhibition that aired on CBS Sunday Morning, Whyte proclaimed about her work: "Getting a likeness is the easy part, making a good painting that endures, that speaks forever is the difficult part.
Whyte's gallery of veterans included a retired carpenter from Hawaii, a rancher from New Mexico, a construction worker from Houston, among others.
Whyte formed a friendship with Alfreda Gibbs Smiley LaBoard from Johns Island in Charleston County, South Carolina, as well as with the Presbyterian church located on Johns Island.