Evelyn Peters
Acrylic Artist — Graphic Designer — Painter of Americana and Legends of the West
Awards
EVELYN PETERS RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PEACE PRIZE
by Janeen Davis
Evelyn Peters of Farmington, NM is one of this years’ recipients of the International Peace Prize by the Authority of the United Cultural Convention of the United Sates of America. She is one of ten American citizens to receive the award for 2003. The International Peace Prize is awarded to individuals who have made a difference in the world and is in recognition of her effort to improve dialogue between cultural diversities.
Evelyn Peters receives a once-in-a-lifetime award: “Daring to Soar and Creating a Harmony of Humankind.”
Photo by Janeen Davis
Born and raised in Alaska, Evelyn spent much of her childhood developing her skills as a painter and some of it participating in the fishing industry that supported her family. Her family experience with boating led her to become a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and from there to become an Official Coast Guard Artist in 1987.
Evelyn has served several art councils in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. She was Office Coordinator and Acting Executive Director of the Northwest New Mexico Arts Council for five years beginning in 1998. In that regard for the past three years she has been the coordinator for the Farmington Renaissance Faire, sponsored jointly by the NWNM Arts Council, the City of Farmington, and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). She is currently assisting other non-profit organizations to improve their efficiency and quality. Mentoring artists also provides another avenue for her to serve.
The Int'l. Peace Prize.
Photo by Janeen Davis
The many paintings brought to life by Evelyn’s talent can be found throughout the entire world. She has work in over 50 countries and has shown her work in Athens, Nairobi, Sydney, at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the UK as well as at the Williamson and Durham Art Galleries in England. She also has shown her work in Alaska and in Galleries across Canada and the United States. Her paintings are exquisitely detailed and true to life. A sample of her work can be found by searching the web. Her paintings cover many interests; portraiture, landscapes, animals, homes, and so much more. The variety of her art touches a vast number of admirers.
She has done paintings depicting the life and equipment of the Coast Guard. Probably the most famous of her Coast Guard paintings, called "Polar Lights," is of the Coast Guard Ice Breaker “Polar Star” breaking through the ice, with the Aurora Borealis lighting the sky in the background and three polar bears in the foreground.
[Press release, Farmington, NM 2003]
ARTISTS IN THE 1990’s
Evelyn Peters
Captures the Grandeur of Americana
by Elizabeth Exler
Afterglow I, II, III
16 x 44 in. Acrylic Triptych on Canvas
©1990, In Private Collection
In the indomitable spirit of early American painting, Evelyn Peters records the wild, natural beauty of the American terrain and its native genre. The literalness – and the suggestion of the traditional flatness of limner painting – are spectacularly achieved in her pristine views of idealized Americana.
The panoramic skies with their fleecy clouds, the localized regional folklore and architecture, windmills, barns, and horse-driven wagons, represent her special milieu. Her personal history is as strikingly graphic as her work: pioneer women, mountain men, gold miners, and ranchers figure picturesquely in her background.
Ms. Peters portrays Native Americans as did the famous portraitist, George Catlin. She states, “The love of the wilderness and wildlife – especially the fond memories of the years in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and New Mexico – the hunting, the fishing, the living among Indians, or the years working with horses and the other aspects of ranch and farm life, all of this has had a place in the evolution of my work.”
Afterglow I, II, III, depicted here, is a triptych incorporating extravagant details. A flamboyant winter scene captures the glazed afterglow reflected in the gleaming crystalline surface of snow-encrusted evergreens. The archetypal grandeur that is postcard-perfect, can only result from meticulous observations of country snow scapes and technical prowess. The artist recollects the nostalgia of a bygone age with a pastoral timelessness, imbuing her work with melodrama and bucolic serenity.
Ms. Peter’s honors and professional associations are numerous. She recently won the Artistic Expression Award, 17th International Congress on Arts and Communications, Nairobi, Kenya: a Gold Medal for Afterglow I,II,III.
She has been listed in 15 publications, among them are American Artists, Encyclopedia of Living Artists, and the World Who’s Who of Women. Articles about her work have appeared in 11 different arts publications including Art of the West, Prints, and Southwest Art. She has over 800 paintings in private, corporate, museum, and gallery collections in over 38 countries, and her paintings have been reproduced as prints.
Manhattan Arts, November/December, 1991