Saribenne Evesong art collection

Saribenne Evesong:

A Guide to Her Artwork Collection at Georgia State University Library

Georgia State University
Georgia State University
Special Collections and Archives
100 Decatur St., SE
Atlanta, GA 30303-3202
404-413-2880
Fax: 404-413-2881
archives@gsu.edu

2006

Organization of the Collection

Scope and Content of the Collection

The collection is comprised of paper works, watercolors and an autobiography, The Teacher Within: An Intimate Story of Inner Discover and Healing. The paperworks include watercolors, artists books / bookworks and art objects.

Biography of Saribenne Evesong

Born Saribenne Thomas in Jackson, Mississippi in 1931, Evesong earned her B.S. in Art in 1958, an M.S. in Art in 1960, a Masters in Fine Arts in 1961, and an MA in Counseling (date unknown) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She became Saribenne Stone upon her second marriage, and then changed her name to Evesong, "out of respect for who she was and as a statement of her independence...She chose the name because Eve was the mother of all females."

Evesong has worked as a counselor, training divorced homemakers in need of support, an insurance company rep, and a computer programmer. As an artist, her main focus has been paper and bookworks, and watercolors.

In her memoir, The Teacher Within: An Intimate Story of Inner Discovery and Healing, Evesong states, "I knew how to express myself, articulated in images of anger and hurt, images often of blinded, sutured-together or wire-pierced eyes...I meant these works to be understood as feminist political images pointing to the way women were desired to be submissive, to be "blinded" to their own needs, to serve the purposes of men."

"I talked about the meanings underlying the words on my paintings and bookforms, how they could only be understood from each viewer's perspective -- as all life can only be understood through the filters of our individual perspectives...But we can attempt to share our perspectives...That is why I made bookforms, and paintings like pages torn from books. Books carry information. Books witness. They tell stories about who we are and how we live, individually and as a people. These books/paintings were about myself and other women who lived in my time, how we experiences our lives."

In 2004, Evesong moved to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, where she died on November 30, 2009, with her family by her side.

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Georgia State University Library online catalog (GIL). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Unrestricted access. All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the Worldwide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult the reference archivist to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original.

Administrative Information

Citation

[item], [folder title], [series title], Saribenne Evesong Artwork Collection, W068, Archives for Research on Women and Gender. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Processing Information

Processed by Sara Legree and Morna Gerrard.