October 2017, Will Evans

Will Evans (1877-1954) was the owner of the trading post in Shiprock, New Mexico from 1917 to 1948, and from there it passed on to another family with a long history in the region, the Foutzes.
Evans was fascinated with Navajo ceremonial art, attended countless ceremonies and sings and was allowed to sketch images from sand paintings, which served as the inspiration for his painted objects.
He had a seemingly insatiable thirst to paint; he decorated the interior and exterior of the Shiprock Trading Post, chairs, tables, picture frames, whiskey bottles and coffee cans, and was even known to adorn the shells of his children’s pet turtles. A self taught artist, he worked as a coal miner and farmer in the Four Corners region before becoming an Indian trader. Over the course of his life, he also served as a state legislator, a recorder of oral histories, and as City Police Judge.
His work has been the subject of a show at the Farmington Museum “Will Evans and the Navajo” and his interviews of neighbors and friends formed the backbone of the book “ Along Navajo Trails.” Shiprock Santa Fe is pleased to present a collection of folk art by a true American original, whose colorfully painted objects are perfectly evocative of a bygone era.