Anne Marsh Evans was born in Nottingham, England in 1923. Shortly before World War II, she attended the Nottingham College of Art and received the London Board of Drawing Diploma. During the war, she was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). In 1946, Evans relocated to London, Ontario.    

Evans was a prolific painter after returning to her art in 1962. She was also very involved with art education, taking on the role of art co-ordinator for London, Ontario’s Separate School system, teaching art at London’s Catholic Central High School, and instructing art classes for both children and adults. She would also head the art department at Sarnia Central Collegiate.

Evans lived in several areas throughout Southern Ontario, becoming a fixture within the arts community wherever she found herself. In 1972, she and her husband opened Jaeman Studio and Gallery in Wyoming, Ontario; next, they would make Meaford, Ontario their home, where in 1999, Evans was recognized as Citizen of the Year by the Rotary Club of Meaford.

Throughout her career of painting, Evans’s work made its way into a number of collections, most notably the Queen Elizabeth II, Windsor Castle Collection. Her painting, 6.30 Hrs Wyoming Ontario, was presented to HM Queen Elizabeth II by the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour in 1986. Evans’s work is also in the collections of the Canadian Embassy in Japan, Dow Chemical, as well as other private and corporate collections.

In 2008, Meaford Hall Galleries held a retrospective of Anne Marsh Evans’s art titled
A Walk Through 70 years of Art. The month-long exhibition showcased over 140 works.

Anne Marsh Evans passed away in 2015.

Biography by Samantha Merritt

SOURCES

“Anne Marsh Evans (b.1923) 6.30 Hrs Wyoming Ontario” Royal Collection Trust.
Accessed: June 2019. https://www.rct.uk/collection/926172/6-30-hrs-wyoming-ontario.

MacDonald, Colin S. “Marsh, Anne (Mrs.).” A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, 3rd ed. Volume IV, (Little – Myles). Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd., 1979.

“Iconic Meaford artist opens retrospective show at hall galleries.” Barrie Advance
(Barrie, Ontario) April 9, 2008.
https://www.simcoe.com/whatson-story/2011894-iconic-meaford-artist-opens-retrospective-show-at-hall-galleries/.

“Obituary: Anne Cynthia Marsh Evans.” Your Life Moments (http://yourlifemoments.ca/), Owen Sound Sun Times (Owen Sound, Ontario). Accessed June 2019. http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oid=907820.