Delta Artist Creates White House Ornament

It’s said that in good art, there are no straight lines. MPB’s Ron Brown has the story of a water color artist and teacher whose path to the Mississippi delta wound up taking her to Washington D.C.

Every couple of months or so a collection of struggling young poets gather in a little bistro. Their paintings hang on the walls. Lights are low and expectations are high as the poetry reading begins...

“Go on with your life, even though it cut me like a sharp knife…”

They stand up and read their own poetry, with some of the lines written just minutes before they deliver it for the first time, out loud.

“I don’t think you heard, that love is a four letter word.”

The patrons show their approval with the beatnik tradition of snapping their fingers instead of applauding…
But these are not beatniks. This bistro isn’t in a college town on the east coast, or the west coast.
It is in downtown Grenada, Mississippi. And the aspiring young poets are high school age students kids in the alternative school system.

Robin Whitfield is an area artist, and for the past six years, one of their teachers…

“The kids we work with are generally struggling to stay in school. Struggling to drop out or not drop out, we work with ged students who have already dropped out. And what we have found is these, a lot of these students tend to be the more creative students.”

The non-profit program which sponsors the poetry read is called “community in schools” and it’s based in Greenwood, funded by the Mississippi Arts Commission. Allison Winstead with the arts commission is amazed at how well Robin works with the students.

“She lives, breathes art but she just as passionately gets the kids and understands what the creative process can give to their lives and the passion that she brings both to her art and to the program is phenomenal for the state. We really are very, very lucky to have her.”

Sammy Jackson is the Alternative education director.

“She is just a go-getter and it seems that everything she touch, becomes a success. She’s good. She’s very good at what she does.”

As effusive as the praise has been for Robin Whitfield’s work as a teacher, they she’s even better as a professional artist.
Now Robin is one of the few artists in the country to have her work on display inside the White House.
On the Christmas tree.

“I was asked to do this ornament and I just said yes. What more of an honor than to be asked by your state senator to represent the state?

With a recommendation from the arts commission, Mississippi U.S. Senator Thad Chochran chose Robin to display her art on a 6 inch bulb ornament. She chose red, brown and orange leaf designs against a light blue background.
On the bottom in gold script is a quote from Mississippi literary figure Eudora Welty. She and the other 49 artists also were invited to a reception in the White House with First Lady Laura Bush. The feeling back home was one of tremendous pride.

Sammy Jackson: “It gave us chills. We were just, we just felt like we were, we had a star in our midst. You know, ‘cause that was just an honor. I’m just proud to know her.

Students and former students like Ricardo Kinkade and George Michael Knoxx agree.

George Michael Knoxx: “The way she inspired me, challenged me and inspired me, it was like an open door for me to just try new things and you know, just go out there and see anything that I can.”

Ricardo Kinkade: “To me, she’s a wonderful teacher. In my view, I feel that she deserves it. I feel like, an ornament is not enough. I feel like she deserved the whole tree but…. you know.”

Sitting in a bistro in Downtown Grenada on poetry night, Whitfield shrugs off the praise and the attention, and insists the real credit goes to her students.

“If I’d never taught in the school that I’m teaching in, I would not be the artist that I am today. And in other words, not as good of an artist. My students have taught me how to experiment and how to be brave.”

Brave, like daring to create their own art, or stand up and read private thoughts out loud in public. Whitfield says today’s lesson is that good art is a good life, and it’s never just ornamental. For MPB News, I’m Ron Brown