By now, maybe you've read about the extraordinary Elinor Evans. Her show of collages, "Some Truths to Learn from Leaves," is at Moody Gallery. And at the Architecture Center Houston, a show of work by Evans' former design students opens July 31.
Evans will celebrate her 100th birthday on Monday, August 4.
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Evans is known for her poetic sensibility. "Leaves share our kind of existence in life," she told visitors to her Moody Gallery show. "We're born, we become, we grow, we mature, each in his own way. They reach a peak and begin to degenerate, just like we do.... That's life, and that's nature. I have here some beautiful leaves, which show rather extensive stages of degenerating. Look for the ones that look like lace. I think those are some of the most beautiful."
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That Zen-like sensibility extends past collages to everything Evans does -- a fact underscored by this video made by Rice University. (Evans taught in Rice's architecture department for roughly three decades.)
Evans wears a plaid shirt with a break-the-rules dotted tie. But her workspace itself is a study in minimalism. Humble finds from her nature walks -- leaves, stones and the like -- are stored in clear boxes or baskets, exalted by the close attention paid to them. A basket of pull-top tabs, each carefully placed, looks like sculpture. Empty bottles glow in sunlight.
Everything is beautiful, not just the art.
