February Issue 2001
Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC, Presents Exhibit of Work by Minnie Evans
The Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC, is proud to announce the opening of the exhibition, Minnie Evans: Dreams In Color on view through April 15.
Minnie Evans: Dreams in Color contains twenty-eight works by one of NC's best-known visionary artists. These works, primarily rendered in various paints and "Crayola" crayons (Evans' favorite), were done between the late 1940s and the 1970s, and express her unique interpretation of Biblical narrative and myth, entwined with the flora and fauna of the natural world.
Minnie Jones Evans was born Dec. 12, 1892, in a small tenant farmer's dwelling in Long Creek, Pender County, NC. Her mother, Ella Jones, fourteen at the time of her birth, told her daughter in later years that she was a "bush baby," (meaning that Ella was pulled into a bush and became pregnant as a result.) When Minnie Jones was only a few months old, Ella Jones moved to Wilmington, NC to live with her mother, Mary Croom Jones, and great-grandmother, Rachel Williams. Minnie Jones was primarily raised by her grandmother because her own mother worked outside the home. In this house full of women, she learned about her family history and was told stories about Marnie (or Moni), her Trinidadian ancestor who was brought to Charleston, SC as a slave and later sold to a family in NC.
On Good Friday, 1935, Evans made her first two drawings, but did not resume making art until 1940. From that point on, Evans would draw and paint nearly obsessively, as she endeavored to record the fantastical Biblical visions from her night and waking dreams. Some of these images reflect biblical scenes such as the crucifixion. Other images blend plant and animal forms. From 1948 until 1974 Evans worked as gatekeeper at Airlie Gardens in Wrightsville Beach. It was here, in the lush garden setting, that her artwork began to encompass both the imagery of her spiritual visions and that of the natural world around her. While working, Evans would show interested visitors her work. Early in her career she gave away her paintings or sold individual drawings for as little as one dollar.
One recurring icon in Evans' works is the face of Janus. In classical mythology, Janus is represented with two faces. Able to see both entrance and exit, he is the god of public gates. Evans, who worked for twenty-six years as a gatekeeper, depicts a three-faced Janus in many of these images. She thus creates a god that not only can look forward and back, but perhaps can look inward into the realm of dreams and visions.
Poor health forced her to quit her job in 1974. She remained in Wrightsville Beach until 1981 when her mother died at the age of 102. Soon after, Evans moved into a nursing home near her son's residence. She remained there until her death in 1987.
A film entitled The Angel That Stands by Me: Minnie Evans' Art was made in 1980-81 in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach and was released in 1983. This film will be shown each Sunday afternoon at 3pm at the Asheville Art Museum during the exhibition. It is free with paid museum admission.
By the time of her death, Evans had seen her works included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, both in New York City, as well as many other galleries and museums. Since Evans' death, her reputation has continued to grow as one of the most important African-American, self-taught artists of the 20th century. The St. Johns Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC, organized this exhibition.
In addition to the exhibition catalog, the
Asheville Art Museum Shop will feature books and other items related
to the exhibition as well as current books on American art of
the twentieth century.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings
or call the museum at 828/253-3227 or at (http://www.ashevilleart.org).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
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