The Jane Evans Foyer
/Jane Evans 31/12/46 – 09/06/2012
Named after this artist who was born in Nelson. Having shown enthusiasm and talent for art at school, Jane spent time attending art college in Christchurch and in London but ultimately chose to travel and develop her own intuitive style of painting.
Jane EVANS (New Zealander, b.1946, d.2012), under the pergola III, 1983, Gouache on paper. Purchased from the exhibition 'Almost Young Contemporaries' in 1983
She eventually returned to New Zealand in the late sixties and settled back in Nelson in 1971 working full-time as a painter.
“My paintings are celebrations, expressions of delight in my immediate environment and the people and events that touch my life.”
Jane EVANS (New Zealander, b.1946, d.2012), Race Meeting II, 1974, Acrylic on board. Presented by the Jane Evans Artist's Trust in 2012
In the 1997 New Year Honours, Evans was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to painting.
She was a determined and passionate advocate for the arts and fought long and hard to support the redevelopment of The Suter over the nearly three decades it took for such a project to be realised.
From 2008 she was a founding trustee of the Bishop Suter Trust Board. When illness forced her to give up that position in 2010 she was given the unique title of Suter Ambassador.
The Suter Art Gallery in Nelson holds 13 works by Evans, the most significant number by the artist in any public collection.
Sally Hunt, The Suter Patron, made a substantial donation towards The Suter redevelopment and requested that the Foyer be named after her long-time Jane. Sadly, Jane died in 2012 before the redevelopment began.
More information about Jane Evans can be found at:
www.janeevansartist.com
www.theprow.org.nz
The Suter Library holds a copy of her biography which contains colour illustrations of many of her works: Coley, J. (1997). Jane Evans. Hazard Press.
