Airlie Oak

Minnie Evans, Airlie Oak, 1954, oil paint on wood, 14 × 18 × 2 in. (35.6 × 45.7 × 5.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josh Feldstein, 2017.35.2

Artwork Details

Title
Airlie Oak
Artist
Date
1954
Location
Dimensions
14 × 18 × 2 in. (35.6 × 45.7 × 5.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Josh Feldstein
Mediums Description
oil paint on wood
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — furniture — bench
  • Landscape — tree — oak tree
Object Number
2017.35.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2017.35.2

Artwork Description

Minnie Evans lived most of her life in North Carolina. At seventeen, she found work as a gatekeeper in the lush gardens of a coastal estate, Airlie-on-Sound, which became a public park in 1949. Evans felt inspired by God to celebrate his resplendent creations with art. In free moments, she drew or painted floral scenes with goddess-like figures in their midst. In Airlie Oak, Evans honored an immense 400-year-old tree at Airlie; a live oak over twenty-feet-wide at the base. She created this bas-relief from bits of dried paint, made malleable with turpentine and added cumulatively over time, as she explained: "I just kept on doing that until I got this big old tree."

Works by this artist (3 items)

Minnie Evans, Airlie Oak, 1954, oil paint on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josh Feldstein, 2017.35.2
Airlie Oak
Artist
Date1954
oil paint on wood
On view
Minnie Evans, Design Made at Airlie Gardens, 1967, oil and mixed media on canvas mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1972.44
Design Made at Airlie Gardens
Artist
Date1967
oil and mixed media on canvas mounted on paperboard
On view
Minnie Evans, Untitled (Head Flanked by Angels above Sunset), 1970, colored pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.109
Untitled (Head Flanked by Angels above Sunset)
Artist
Date1970
colored pencil on paper
Not on view

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