We’re passionate about honoring Minnie Evans and her visionary art.
Photo by Nina Howell Starr
Minnie Evans began drawing in 1935, compelled by dreams and later a voice that suggested she must “draw or die.”
The one-hour documentary film, produced and directed by filmmaker Linda Royal, lifts the unique voice of self-taught artist Minnie Evans from conversations between Evans and photographer, Nina Howell Starr. Preserved in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art archives, their taped discussions from the '60's-70's reveal a loving friendship and Minnie's personal history. Grounded in the compositions and forms she produced, the film's visuals will employ her art work through the decades, archival images, Nina Starr's black and white photography along with the gardens and coastal landscapes that inspired Minnie's work.
The desire to fulfill her soul’s purpose given by God is at the center of her visionary work. During her lifetime, Minnie Evans drew an estimated 3,000 pictures using crayons and other media, yet she had no formal training, and every one of her works of art is unique.
Evans's paintings and drawings are in the permanent collections of prominent art museums across the USA, yet she's not widely recognized.
Minnie Evans circa 1940 with “Temple by the Sea.” Oil on window shade. Photographer unkown.
HELP COMPLETE THE FILM!
Join other Minnie Evans: Draw or Die documentary supporters from across the USA who have donated to bring awareness to Minnie’s legacy and self-taught, visionary art. Your contribution is tax-deductible through the Southern Documentary Fund, our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.
“This art that I have put out has come from nations I suppose might have been destroyed before the flood...No one know anything about them, but God has given it to me to bring them back into the world.”
Minnie Evans circa mid 1960’s, mixed media, from private collection
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On location Museum of Modern Art, New York
Director/Producer Linda Royal and award-winning Cinematographer Blaire Johnson
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On location Wrightsville Beach, NC
Nuri Muhammad, camera & PA; Wayne Evans, Liz Penton, Blaire Johnson cinematographer.
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On location Smithsonian American Art Museum
Cinematographer Randy Benson with Amber Kerr, Chief of Conservation, Senior Paintings Conservator
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On location Airlie Gardens, Wilmington NC
The Williston Alumni Community Choir in the Minnie Evans sculpture garden with Director Linda Royal and Annette Freeman, Consulting Producer. Photo by Tim Ellis.
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Just some of the Minnie Evans Film Team!
Blaire Johnson; Research Assistant Tia Adkins; Director Linda Royal; Art Educator Suzanne Sload; Art Advisor Elizabeth Penton, Production Assistant Charity Moorhous
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On location Outsider Art Fair, New York
Christian Daniel; OAF Founder Andrew Edlin; Harrison Brammel; Location Producer Annette Freeman; Blaire Johnson; Dahlia Dennison; Braulio Lin
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On location Airlie Gardens, Wilmington NC
Tony Morin and the Hendy Street Produxions crew. Photo by Tim Ellis.
Filming Locations
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Airlie Gardens, Wilmington NC
The Airlie Oak Tree, the Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden, and the beautiful Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens are featured throughout the film. Learn more about the garden’s artists. Watch a video about the Bottle Chapel and its creator, Virginia Wright-Frierson.
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New York City
Filming locations in New York included the Museum of Modern Art, Nina Howell Starr’s grandson’s apartment, the Outsider Art Fair at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 5th Avenue and other places that Minnie Evans’ art and story are connected to.
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Washington D.C.
We filmed interviews at The Smithsonian American Art Museum and spent days researching Nina Howell Starr’s collection of papers about Minnie Evans in SAAM’s Archive of American Art.
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Wrightsville Sound, NC
Minnie Evans lived, worked and worshiped in the small, and at one time, mostly African-American community of Wrightsville Sound. Much has changed since then, but the coastal sunrises, a frequent element in her art, are still stunning
Donor Support We've Received
Executive Producer Level: Agnes Gund
Executive Producer Level: Andrea Arria-Devoe
Executive Producer Level: John C. Jerit
Lighthouse Films
Co-Producers: Olympia Stone, Wendy Williams
Contributing Producer: Annie Gray Sprunt
The Arts Council of Wilmington & NHC
Additional Funding by; Cucalorus Foundation with the Filmed in NC Fund, Janie & Carter Lambeth, John Clark & Mary Boney Denison, David Dyer, Frank Gordon, Janet Kenworthy, Nathan Kernan, Jennifer Kraner & Tony Chambers, Mildred Long, Molly Matlock, Betsy Royal, Martha & Don Shafer, Steve Tretrault, Doug & Liling Warren
Thanks to our Contributors: Paul & Maureen Baron, Molly Brooks, Jean Capps, Sheila Carey, Liz Coffey, Corbett Industries, Cynthia D Davis, Delta Foundation of the Cape Fear, Beverly Evans, Norris & Louise Evans, Mary & Deanes Gornto, Bonnie Monteleone, Timothy Peck, William Rowe, Mimi Saffer, Louise & Matt Scharf, David & Marsha Warren, Heather Wilson
