Late artist's work and supplies inspire others at Topeka gallery and in school classrooms

Born in 1965 in London, England, Denise Evans used the strokes of a brush to process her emotions and feeling over a 40-year career that included personal trauma, moving to the United States and health challenges.

The first half of her life brought exceptional promise.

Evans was accepted into art school at the age of 17, earned multiple degrees, had work shown at the Museum of Modern Art, won countless awards and became financially wealthy to support her artistry.

But there was a darkness that followed that would plague the second part of her life.

After suffering domestic abuse at the hands of her first husband and multiple miscarriages, Evans purchased a one-way ticket in 1996 to explore and be inspired by the American landscape.

A year later, she chose Weston, Missouri, as her new home.

In 1999, Evans was disabled by two major neurological illnesses — semi-progressive multiple sclerosis and untreated temporal lobe seizures.

The illnesses would ultimately lead to her death on Feb. 19, 2023, at the age of 58.

But that’s not the end of her story.

Artist's work lives on in Topeka through exhibit at downtown gallery

Last March, local gallery owner Stephen Smith received a call from Evans' widower, Stephen Scott Marshall, with an offer to acquire his late wife’s entire collection.

“All of her writings, her history, her artwork, her supplies — brought it all back,” Smith told The Capital-Journal last week.

Smith then dove into Evans' work over several months to figure out what to do with it all.

“It's a body of work that is amazing ... tells a story,” Smith said. “She painted her life through these stories. So you see some joy, you see some inspiration, you see some tragedies.

“You experience everything that she experienced through these paintings.”

For 15 years, Evans had to step away from her studio as seizures and MS sent her in and out of hospitals.

Despite her pain, she still found a way to create — even if it was simple lines drawn on a phone with her thumb, there were always pieces to work on.

“She wasn't planning on dying even to the day she died,” Marshall said. “She was thinking she's going to beat this thing even though her physical decline was remarkable in the 20 years we were together.”

Toward her later years, Evans' work wasn't shown as it once was. Marshall said she hoped to show her newest pieces, but her health limited her ability to do so.

In 2017, new treatments began to calm down her seizures, and she was able to return to the studio.

On Jan. 5, Stephen Smith Gallery, 931 S. Kansas Ave., opened a tribute gallery featuring 25 of Evans' completed pieces, and a few of her poems, for public display. Smith plans to matte and frame other pieces and continue to show portions of her work through the end of the year.

“My journey through life is intrinsic to my work," Evans had written on her website. "It is the artistic well I draw from, only by striving to unveil my own truths, do I seek to reveal the essential truths which unite us in our own very separate and human journeys through life, can I really be so dissimilar to others now I am so far apart?”

Supplies for the next generation of artists in Topeka

According to Marshall, Evans was meticulous about not just creating her art but the supplies she used as well.

She painted on large canvases that she made by hand and in 2019 documented on her Instagram account.

“I have to be there at the birth of my canvasses and nurse them through every stage, if I painted on pre-made canvasses it would be like painting on a stranger,” Evans wrote on a post from Feb. 19, 2019.

When Smith acquired Evans' artwork, he suggested her supplies be donated to schools.

“I was all for that because it’s only worth having if someone wants to use it,” Marshall said.

Washburn Rural High School art teacher Brad LeDuc was called to handle the donation.

“I have four painting classes this semester, so like 80 students, and all of Denise's paint brushes have been divvied up and then divided into two packets that each of the kids are going to get to work with,” LeDuc said. “Her supplies will have an impact on almost every student in my classroom this semester.”

Besides the brushes, her large canvases have also been used for students to have the ability to work in the large format.

“I've taught over 20 years and it's not real common that I've got huge canvases on hand for students to experiment or to play with,” LeDuc added.

During Friday’s morning painting classes, it was evident Evans' supplies were in good hands.

As junior, Megan Sanderson worked on a painting of a cat, her favorite subject, she said. Sanderson was using Evans' brushes and said they have had an impact on her work.

“I think that it's really cool and it's definitely really, like inspiring and motivational just to know that my brush just came from someone else that was creating beautiful artwork," Sanderson said.

Young artists in Topeka have been inspired by Denise Evans

Seeing how Evans was a lifelong artist inspired others in LeDuc’s class who can see a life path creating art.

Senior Gabrielle Hope wants to become a tattoo artist. After seeing Evans' paintings and using her brushes, she was inspired to get out of her creative comfort zone.

“Acrylic is not my favorite medium,” Hope said. ”It’s actually kind of like my least favorite, but it kind of made me open up to it more like I was more willing to do it.”

Marshall said he thinks this is what Evans would have wanted.

“I think that she just wanted her artwork to help people," he said, "and that was her ultimate goal.”

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Artist Denise Evans' work featured in tribute at Topeka gallery