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{{Short description|African American female painter (1892–1987)}}
{{for|the Potawatomi leader|Minnie Evans (Potawatomi leader)}}
{{Infobox artist
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| birth_name = Minnie Eva Jones<!-- only use if different than name -->
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|12|12}}
| birth_place = [[Long Creek
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|12|16|1892|12|12}}
| death_place = [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], North Carolina, U.S.
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| occupation = Artist
| nationality = American
| education =
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}}
'''Minnie Eva Evans''' (December 12, 1892 – December 16, 1987)<ref name="Oxford Art Online" /><ref name=":3" /> was an [[African
== Personal life ==
Evans (born Minnie Eva Jones) was born to Ella Jones on December 12, 1892 in [[Long Creek
In Wrightsville, Ella Jones met her future husband, Joe Kelly, and they married in 1908.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> During this time, Jones worked as a "sounder" selling shellfish door to door.<ref name="Aspects of Minnie Evans">{{cite journal|last1=Kerman|first1=Nathan|date=1997-07-01|title=Aspects of Minnie Evans|journal=On Paper
Beginning in 1916, Minnie Evans was employed as a [[
▲Beginning in 1916, Minnie Evans was employed as [[Domestic worker|a domestic]] at the home of her husband's employer, Pembroke Jones, a wealthy industrialist.<ref name="Folk Art Messenger" /> The Evans family lived on Jones's hunting estate, "Pembroke Park," known today as the subdivision Landfall. Pembroke Jones died in 1919 and his wife, Sadie Jones remarried Henry Walters. The couple moved nearby to the Airlie Estate which was left to Sadie Jones from Pembroke Jones. Evans continued to work from Sadie Jones and now Henry Walters, on the Airlie Estate. After Walters died, Sadie Jones decided to turn the Airlie Estate into gardens which later became one of the most famous gardens of the south.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> After Sadie Jones died, a man named Albert Corbet bought the property in 1947 and assigned Evans to be the [[gatekeeper]] and take admission from public visitors.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> She held this position for the rest of her life.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> She retired from her job as the gatekeeper when she was 82 years old in 1974.<ref name="Painting Dreams" />
==Career==
Evans began drawing on [[Good Friday]] 1935,
Evans first started selling her work at the Airlie Gardens by hanging her pieces on the front gate of the gardens. She would often give her pieces away to visitors. Soon she became known throughout the south and visitors would come to the gardens just to see her work.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> In 1961, she had her first formal exhibition of drawings and oils at the Little Artists Gallery (now St. Johns Museum) in Wilmington, North Carolina.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Otfinoski|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcWHdpRoDkUC
In 1962, Evans met [[photographer]], folk art specialist, and [[Art history|art historian]], [[Nina Howell Starr]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Finding Aid to the Nina Howell Starr papers, 1933-1996|url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/nina-howell-starr-papers-6053|website=Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> Starr, an artist herself (photographer), knew of Evans' work in 1961 and wanted to meet the artist in person.<ref name=":3" /> Starr would go on to represent Evans and publicize her work for the next 25 years. Evans originally sold her first paintings for 50 cents apiece. Starr encouraged Evans to sell her paintings for better prices and assisted Evans throughout her career. Evans felt her work was too personal to share with the public which held her from releasing anything until 1961 when she had her first major art exhibition at The Little Gallery in Wilmington, now known as [[Cameron Art Museum|St. John's Museum]].
From 1962 until 1973, Starr recorded interviews with Evans about her work.<ref name=":3" /> At first, Evans was wary to trust Starr with her work, but they gained a mutual respect for each other.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> Starr helped to launch Evans' career by storing and selling her art in [[New York City]]. She also guided her in the art world by making her sign and date her pieces.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lyons|first1=Mary E.|title=Painting Dreams|date=1996|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-39572032-X|page=34}}</ref> In 1966, Starr arranged for Evans' first [[New York (state)|New York]] exhibit at the Church of Epiphany and Clements Episcopal Church.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> In August 1969, another exhibition of Evans' work took place at the Art Image Gallery of New York and in 1975, curated a major Evans exhibition at the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]].<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> With failing health, another exhibition of her work was curated in 1980 at the St. John's Museum.<ref name="Painting Dreams" /> She also had many other exhibitions in New York as well.<ref name="Painting Dreams" />
Many art critics have labelled Evans work as "[[Surrealism|surrealistic]]", "[[Visionary art|visionary]]", and "[[Psychedelic art|psychedelic]]".<ref name=":12" /> Religion played a vital role in Evans life, as well as in many of Evans paintings. Evans confessed she wasn't sure of the meanings behind her paintings, stating
[[File:Bottle Chapel.jpg|thumb|alt=a small house-like structure made of multicolored bottles|Minnie Evans Bottle Chapel designed and built by Virginia Wright-Frierson]]
Evans created "one of the most powerful works of art
Evans died in Wilmington, North Carolina, on December 16, 1987, at the age of 95,<ref name="Oxford Art Online" /> leaving more than 400 artworks to the St. Johns Museum of Art (now the [[Cameron Art Museum]]) in Wilmington. After Evans' death, artist Virginia Wright-Frierson designed and built the ''Minnie Evans Bottle Chapel'' at Airlie Gardens in her memory. Made almost entirely from reused glass bottles, the Bottle Chapel was created as a tribute to folk artist Minnie Evans and featured works from many other artists. When looking at a top view of the chapel, it resembles a flower with a leaf on each side. Along the path, colored cement has pressed flowers and plants that Evans used in her paintings. Children’s art that Evans inspired was transformed into 95 stepping stones, each for a year of her life. The chapel itself contains stained glass with many faces and figures that resemble one's Evans used.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden - YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4d8VY0v2k|access-date=2020-11-16|website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> "Minnie Evans Day" was proclaimed on May 14, 1994, in [[Greenville, North Carolina|Greenville]], North Carolina.<ref name="Painting Dreams" />
Evans was the subject of the [[Documentary film|documentary]], ''The Angel that Stands By Me: Minnie Evans' Art'' (1983), by [[Allie Light]] and [[Irving Saraf]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Angel That Stands By Me|url=http://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=71|website=Folkstreams|language=en|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> The title of the documentary comes from a quote Evans herself. She says, "God has sent me an angel that stands by me. [It] stands with me and directs me what to do."<ref name=":0">Saraf, Irving, and Allie Light, dir. Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans Painting. Directed by Minnie Evans, Wilmington, NC: FolkStreams, 2008. Film. <nowiki>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEAkHRQFdNc</nowiki> </ref>▼
▲Evans was the subject of the [[Documentary film|documentary]]
== Famous works ==
===Inspiration, style, and technique===
Evans began to [[Drawing|draw]] and [[Painting|paint]] at the age of 43, creating her first pieces of artwork on a scrap of paper bag. She was known to free-hand her drawings from left to right.
Evans
Her drawing became compulsive, and her friends and family became worried that she was losing her mind. Over time, however, they gained respect for her art and believed she had a gift.
===Works===
Her first works, titled ''My Very First and My Second'', are ink on paper. The entire surface is filled with [[Abstract art|abstract]] designs and shapes with nature images and themes in both. These works are not in color.<ref name="Heavenly Visions">{{cite book|last1=Kahan|first1=Mitchell|title=Heavenly Visions: Art of Minnie Evans|date=1986|publisher=North Carolina Museum of Art|location=Raleigh, NC|isbn=0-88259-951-8}}</ref> After handing her these drawings to a mysterious prophet, Evans was told that they foreshadowed the current global conflict, World War II. Madame Tula later instructed Evans to make a new painting featuring the
Another work titled ''"Design: Airlie Garden"'' depicts flowers, plants, and butterflies. The nature theme is shown here, but this piece is somewhat atypical due to the asymmetry of the painting.<ref name="Painting Dreams" />
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Two other works, both untitled are more typical works by Evans. One, dated 1996, depicts a woman with a feathered headdress and a green bird. This piece has bold colors, symmetrical, and includes nature themes. The media used is graphite, ink, [[tempera]], and wax crayon on paper. The other is a female [[portrait]] including the theme of eyes, bold colors, and nature designs as well. The media used are [[gouache]], ink, and wax crayon on paper.<ref name="Minnie Evans: Artist">{{cite book|title=Minnie Evans: Artist|date=1993|publisher=Wellington B. Gray Gallery|location=Greenville, NC|isbn=0-9636759-0-7}}</ref>
Now recognized as one of the most important visionary folk artists of the 20th century, her work is highly collected by many museums and collectors all across the world.
A review of a 2017 exhibit notes the contrast between Evans' later works -- "increasingly sophisticated" faces and greater "familiarity with nature"—with her first drawings between 1935 and 1940, which "indicate her innate genius and awareness, in the raw and in transition."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Roberta|title=What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week: Minnie Evans|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/arts/design/what-to-see-in-new-york-art-galleries-this-week.html|accessdate=9 March 2017|
== Publications ==
Art exhibition catalogues, in ascending order by date:
* {{Cite book|last=Starr|first=Nina Howell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n7DHvgEACAAJ
* {{Cite book|last=Kahan|first=Mitchell|url=https://books.google.com/books
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5n9KzQEACAAJ
*{{Cite book|
== References ==
{{
==Further reading==
*{{Cite journal|last=Starr|first=Nathan Comfort|date=March 1969|title=The Unique Folk Artist of Airlie|journal=The State|pages=
*John Walker Myers, "Minnie Evans: Off in the Garden to Talk With God." The Southern Quarterly. Volume 35, Number I, Fall 1996. pp.
*{{Cite book|last=Lyons|first=Mary E.|url=https://books.google.com/books
*{{Cite magazine|last=Kernan|first=Nathan|date=July 1997|title=Aspects of Minnie Evans|magazine=On Paper
*{{Cite book|
*{{Cite book|last=Maizels|first=John|title=Outsider Art Sourcebook|publisher=Raw Vision Magazine|year=2009|isbn=978-0954339326|series=Raw Vision}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Minnie}}
[[Category:
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women]]
[[Category:African-American women artists]]
▲[[Category:Women outsider artists]]
[[Category:Artists from North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Pender County, North Carolina]]▼
▲[[Category:20th-century American women artists]]
[[Category:People from New Hanover County, North Carolina]]
▲[[Category:People from Pender County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Women outsider artists]]
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