Though her work was inspired by visions and dreams that began during childhood, Evans didn’t put pen to paper for her first ink drawings until 1935, when she was in her early forties. “Something told me to draw or die,” the artist recalled. Tracing her roots to an enslaved maternal ancestor transported to the US from Trinidad, Evans, who was employed as a domestic worker in Wilmington, North Carolina, received no formal artistic training. She used pigmented wax crayons to create colorful and complex linear patterns that evoke animals, plants, and spiritual symbols, reflecting the connections she perceived between the earthly and the divine.

Gallery label from

Artist’s Choice: Grace Wales Bonner—Spirit Movers, November 18, 2023 – April 07, 2024

Medium Pencil, crayon, and ballpoint pen on paper
Dimensions 7 1/2 × 5 1/8" (19.1 × 13 cm)
Credit Gift of Mrs. Nina Howell Starr
Object number 48.1997
Department Drawings and Prints

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Minnie Evans

Minnie Evans

American, 1892–1987 7 works online

From the age of six, she described being divinely guided while asleep through a spectacular subconscious world, the figures and settings of which would eventually become the subject of her work.

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