Open Studio: Minnie Evans
Sat, Sept 19, 2026
11 am–3 pm
Minnie Evans, Untitled (Face with Crown and Angels), 1968. Oil, ink, gold paint, and pencil on paper, 17 × 19 1/2 × 1 3/8 in. (43.2 × 49.5 × 3.5 cm). Collection of Wendy Williams, New York. © The Estate of Minnie Evans. Photograph by Christopher Burke
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The Hearst Artspace and the Seminar Room are equipped with induction hearing loops and infrared assistive listening systems. Accessible seating is also available.
The Susan and John Hess Family Theater is equipped with an induction loop and infrared assistive listening system. Accessible seating is available.
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Open Studio is located on Floor 3
Families with kids of all ages
Families with kids of all ages are invited to explore the new exhibition, The Lost World: The Art of Minnie Evans. Join Whitney Educators in the Hess Theater to mix and match features from your favorite animals to create your own kaleidoscopic dream creature collage! Be sure to stop by the Hearst Artspace to add flowers, plants, and animals to a magical garden mural. Come back throughout the day to see how the garden grows!
Inspired by vivid dreams and visions, Minnie Evans (1892–1987) made her first drawing in 1935, after the death of her beloved grandmother. Over the following decades, she created hundreds of radiant pencil and crayon drawings, oil paintings, and collages. Her work brings together imagery from her Afro-Caribbean heritage, mythology, religion, popular culture, decorative arts, and the natural world of her hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Her dense, kaleidoscopic compositions feature angels, mythical creatures, watchful faces, and intricate patterns. These images suggest harmony and transcendence, while also carrying a sense of mystery and unease. Evans imagined her works as a protective, spiritual place that existed before the great flood in the Bible—a place she called the “lost world.”