Minnie Evans (1892 - 1987)

  Click here to see works we have for sale by Minnie Evans

Minnie Evans was born in Long Creek, North Carolina on December 1, 1892, to a Southern black family who traced their origins to Trinidad. Most of her images were inspired by dreams. "My whole life has been dreams. Some times day visions. They would take advantage of me. No one taught me to paint. It came to me."

She is one of America's great unique visionary folk artists, compelled as she was by spirits to record her dreams and visions since the age of 52, when on Good Friday in 1935 a voice said to her "Draw or die." But Minnie was no stranger to seeing what no else could see, the drawing of an elephant creature is a tribute to her first vision as a child. She stared at the moon seeing 3 bright elephants circling on a ring, and when the other children laughed at this her mother said "Let that child alone. God has showed something He hasn't showed to you or me or nobody else." Said Minnie later of the drawing, "There's my green animal... he's in the Garden of Eden. God has put him there but hasn't put him on Earth so man can see them."

Evans' initial drawing efforts began after a compelling spiritual experience. On Good Friday in the year 1935, she said she heard God's command telling her to draw, inspiring her to paint for the next fifty years.

Minnie left school after the fifth grade to work as a "sounder", selling oysters and clams door-to-door. In 1908,at the age of 16, she married Julius Evans. Together, they raised three sons--Elisha Dyer, David Barnes and George Sheldon.

Throughout her life, even in childhood, Minnie experienced visions but did not begin to record them until 1935 when she created her first two drawings. It wasn't until 1940 that she began to steadily create crayon and pencil and ink drawings on small sheets of paper. Later, she added oil painting as a medium to record her visions.

Evans did not see her work as "art." Her son, George Evans, reports that his mother was initially reluctant to draw, but was unable to resist the powerful spiritual admonition. "Something told me to draw or die. It was shown to me what to do."

Minnie worked as gatekeeper at the Airlie botanical gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina, for over 25 years. This Eden setting worked well for her to develop her inspirations from God into the scenes for which she is known: distinctive totem-like landscapes of eyes, plants, animals, people, and angels blending together. She said "I have dreams of the thing, and I feel God gave me this mission to do this." Her first art exhibit was not until 1961, and she passed in 1987, leaving behind a large and highly collectible body of work.

Newsweek magazine once described Ms. Evans as "breathtakingly gifted" and a "beautiful dreamer". A documentary entitled "The Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans' Art" was produced in 1983.

Described as visionary and naive (self-taught), her art expresses dreams and visions of religious faith, which she called her guarantee of love.

A permanent exhibit of her works at St. John's Museum of Art includes three paintings by this gifted, internationally-known artist.