Delaware Art Museum pleased to present Painted Poetry: The Art of Mary Page Evans, a retrospective exhibition featuring approximately 50 paintings and drawings created by the artist between the 1960s and 2011. On view March 31 through July 15, 2012, this exhibition highlights Evans' vibrant depictions of nature and the human form while celebrating the artist's distinguished career.

To accompany the exhibition, the Delaware Art Museum is producing a richly illustrated catalogue with an artist interview and an essay by Philadelphia painter Bill Scott. The book also highlights a selection of poems that have inspired Mary Page Evans, as well as works inspired by her pictures. Featured poets include Howard Nemerov, Billy Collins, Moira Linehan, Adrianne Marcus, Elizabeth Seydel Morgan, and Susan Jackson. This hardback volume, published by the Delaware Art Museum and Hudson Hills Press, will be available at the Museum Store for $45.

About the exhibition

Mary Page Evans works directly from nature, seeking to capture a specific landscape, figure, tree, or sky. Her vibrant paintings and drawings evoke particular places--gardens in Delaware and France, a mountain in the Shenandoah Valley, the Florida coast--sites she returns to again and again, chronicling them in different moods and seasons. Displaying work made over more than 40 years, Painted Poetry is organized thematically to highlight Evans' longstanding interests: landscapes, gardens, figures, trees, seas, and skies.

Evans' expressive use of color and line evokes the spontaneity of movement and light found in the natural world. Not surprisingly, her influences include the French impressionists and post-impressionists, as well as the abstract expressionists. She has worked at Giverny, Claude Monet's garden, and names Cézanne as a particular inspiration. Her artist-friends include contemporary painters Grace Hartigan and Joan Mitchell.

Evans describes herself as a "museum person" and loves to discuss how specific artists and exhibitions have influenced her work. Yet she has developed a style all her own. As painter Bill Scott has noted, "In Evans' work there is always a balance between the representational and the abstract as well as between impulsive and meditative applications of paint to her canvas...She camouflages the numerous decisions and immense effort required to make her works look so effortless." The artist's use of vibrant color and energetic drawing prompted painter Gene Davis, a friend of Evans, to describe her pictures as "hymns of unadulterated joy."

Evans is also influenced by other disciplines--music, dance, and writing. This exhibition pairs Evans' paintings with the words that inspire her, from the musings of Paul Cézanne to the contemporary poems of Billy Collins and Susan Jackson. The exhibition programming, which includes a classical music concert and poetry readings, will highlight the interdisciplinary cross-pollination that the artist seeks. To borrow Scott's eloquent description of her career, "Her journey as an artist can be traced by seeing how she successfully finds and reinvents the inspiration that propels her to paint."

About the artist

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Mary Page Evans graduated with a degree in music from Hollins University in Roanoke. After college she studied at the Art Students League in New York and the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. She has lived in Delaware for nearly 50 years, since her marriage to former Delaware Congressman Tom Evans. After moving to Wilmington, she took classes at the Delaware Art Museum and with artists Ed Loper and Tom Bostelle. Starting in the 1970s, Evans has been honored with many solo exhibitions, especially in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. She is represented by Carspecken-Scott in Wilmington, Delaware, and Addison/Ripley Fine Art in Washington, D.C. Her paintings and drawings are in public, private, and corporate collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University.

Public programs & events

Meet the Artist: Mary Page Evans

Saturdays, March 31, April 21, May 19, June 16 | 11:00 a.m.

Free with Museum admission

Join Wilmington-based artist Mary Page Evans as she discusses her retrospective exhibition Painted Poetry: The Art of Mary Page Evans, and her experiences, inspirations, and influences.

Poetry Readings

Saturdays, May 19 & June 16 | 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Free with Museum admission

Hear regional and Delaware poets read poems inspired by the art of Mary Page Evans. Regional poets: Saturday, May 19

Delaware poets: Saturday, June 16

Plein Air Studio Workshop with Mary Page Evans

Sunday, April 15 | 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Figure Sketching Workshop with Mary Page Evans

Monday, May 14 | 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Sunday Studio Series: Plein Air Landscapes

Sunday, April 29 | 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Ages 3 and up | $5 per participant

Drop in to the Delaware Art Museum anytime from 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month and participate in the Museum's Sunday Studio Series. For just $5 per participant, children and their families can experience an activity that explores a new medium or technique each month -- no reservations required! Cash or check only. Project time averages 45 minutes. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Organizers & Sponsors

Painted Poetry: The Art of Mary Page Evansis made possible by Friends of Mary Page Evans, The 1916 Foundation, Fair Play Foundation, The Joshua P. and Elizabeth D. Darden Foundation, and Wakefield Family Fund Inc.

Additional support is provided by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

About the Delaware Art Museum

The Delaware Art Museum, located at 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19806, is open Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and Sunday noon - 4:00 p.m. Admission fees are charged as follows: Adults (19 - 59) $12, Seniors (60+) $10, Students (with valid ID) $6, Youth (7 - 18) $6, and Children (6 and under) free. Admission is free every Sunday. For more information, call 302-571-9590 or 866-232-3714 (toll free), or visit the website at www.delart.org.