Garth Evans

About the artist

Garth Evans was born on 23 November 1924 in Stockport near Manchester. After national service with the RAF he attended Manchester Regional College of Art, and continued studying sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1957-60). From 1965-79 he taught at St Martin’s School of Art, before moving to the United States.

Evans has exhibited widely and his work is represented in major collections in the UK and internationally. He currently lives and works in North East Connecticut and teaches in New York, where he is Head of Sculpture at the New York Studio School.

What’s in the collection?

Much of the material deposited in the archive relates to Evans’ fellowship with the British Steel Corporation between 1969 and 1971, as part of a scheme organised by the Artist Placement Group (APG). The APG placed artists in government, commercial and industrial organisations in the hope that artists could bring new ways of seeing and thinking to their host organisation. During this period Evans travelled across the UK visiting steel works and photographing objects.

The archive also includes material connected to the controversial ‘A Course’ established by Evans with fellow teachers Gareth Jones, Peter Harvey and Peter Atkins, which made an important contribution to art school educational techniques.

Other items include papers relating to the Manydeed artist group (whose members included both students and staff from St Martin’s School of Art) including its formation and goals; sketchbooks; and appointment diaries recording brief notes on Evans’ day-to-day life (1952-1974).

The Leeds’ Sculpture Collection holds the photographic work ‘British Steel Photographs 1969-71′ by Garth Evans, which comprises a series of black and white photographs taken during the British Steel Corporation Fellowship.

Related exhibitions