Nelson artist Jane Evans dies

Noted Nelson artist Jane Evans has died at age 65.

Evans died peacefully at her Nelson home last night, a family spokesperson confirmed this morning.

Evans was an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, a patron of the Nelson Arts Festival since its inception in 1995, and an honorary life member of the Adam Chamber Music Festival.

She was also an honorary life member of the Nelson Suter Art Society and was the resident judge for the first five years of the World of WearableArt Awards in Nelson.

Evans had battled lupus, a chronic and debilitating health condition, for much of her life.

Biographer John Coley recounted in his 1997 book that Evans kept her condition from the public for many years and refused to let it interfere with her passion for painting and her enjoyment of a full and richly experienced life.

She attended Ilam in Christchurch and the Waltham Forest School of Art in London, and worked as a fulltime painter after completing her studies, exhibiting nationally and internationally.

Evans described her paintings as ''celebrations, expressions of delight in my immediate environment and the people and events that touch my life''.

- © Fairfax NZ News