Exploring Wild Pigments: Appalachian Colors and Sustainable Foraging

Robin Whitfield is a professional watercolor artist and the Executive Director of Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp, the nonprofit she founded in 2018 to steward and interpret Lee Tartt Nature Preserve in Grenada, Mississippi. Her creative practice emerges directly from field observation in swamps, rivers, and forests, exploring the visual and ecological relationships of wild places. She utilizes traditional watercolors alongside pigments foraged from plants and minerals. Robin has taught creative workshops for more than two decades for organizations such as the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, and the Mississippi Museum of Art. Her work and practice have been featured in media outlets like Mississippi Roads, The Mississippi Arts Hour, and Good Grit Magazine. Her recent awards include a 2025 Mississippi Arts Commission Fellowship, a 2021 Prism Award from the Mississippi Arts Educators Association, and recognition from the Society of Wetland Scientists and the Mississippi Wildlife Federation. She exhibits widely across the Southeast and is represented by Caron Gallery in Tupelo.