Evelyn May Gibbs (5 May 1905 – 27 February 1991) was an English artist and teacher.

Mary Fedden Mary Fedden, OBE RA RWA (14 August 1915 – 22 June 2012) was a British artist. Early years Sometimes mistakenly described as the daughter of Roy Fedden (who was in fact her uncle, as was Romilly Fedden), Mary Fedden was born in Bristol ...

, "Obituary: Evelyn Gibbs. Etched on the Midlands", ''The Guardian'', 4 March 1991.

Biography

Evelyn Gibbs studied at the

Liverpool School of Art The John Lennon Art and Design Building (formerly the Art and Design Academy) in Liverpool, England, houses Liverpool John Moores University's School of Art and Design. The school was formerly located at the Grade II listed Liverpool College of ...

and at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, before winning a Prix de Rome Scholarship for engraving in 1929, with which she spent two years in Italy. Supporting herself by teaching at a school for handicapped children, she wrote a book on art teaching illustrated by her pupils, and then became a teacher-training lecturer at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

. When Goldsmiths was evacuated to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

during World War II, she created the Midlands Group of Artists: two exhibitions in a large empty building led to permanent gallery premises and a range of other activities supporting artists in the region. The Midlands Group of Artists painted murals at five locations throughout the region but none were thought to have survived. In 2009, workmen rewiring St Martin's Church in

Bilborough Bilborough is a suburb of the city of Nottingham, England. The population of the City of Nottingham ward at the 2011 census was 16,792. St Martin of Tours' Church, Bilborough is a Grade II listed building. In the chancel is an Annunciation by ...

, Nottingham uncovered two of Gibbs's murals, which had thought to have been destroyed in the 1970s. These murals have been restored and put on public display. In 1943 Gibbs submitted three works to the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

. These were purchased and led to her being commissioned to make a series of drawings concerning blood transfusion stations. A further commission on the work of the

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

, (WVS), resulted in the painting ''WVS Clothing Exchange'' (1943). Remaining in Nottingham after the war, she married Hugh Willat, later Secretary-General of the Arts Council. She continued drawing and painting until a stroke seven years before she died.

Works

* ''The Teaching of Art in Schools'', 1934.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Evelyn 1905 births 1991 deaths 20th-century British printmakers 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art British war artists English engravers English muralists English women painters Women engravers Women muralists World War II artists 20th-century engravers

Biography

Archive

Works

References

External links