The Angel that Stands by Me: Minnie Evans' Paintings (1983)

Overview

Fifth in the series "Visions of Paradise." Directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf. 1983. Minnie Evans is the embodiment of the visionary artist. She is an 88-year-old Black painter in North Carolina who has created a rich world of mythical animals, religious symbols, and natural beauty. The film explores the sources of her art, focusing on her mystical visions, on Airlie Garden, with its magnificent azaleas and swans, where she worked for 27 years and did most of her paintings, and on the African-Methodist church where the connection between her art and her religious fervor becomes evident. She tells about her mystical visions and traces her slave ancestry to her great grandmother's grandmother who was brought from Trinidad and sold as a slave in North Carolina. We see Minnie with her 101 year old mother and at the Evans' family reunion of six generations. Minnie Evans has had many solo exhibits, including one at the Whitney Museum in New York.