about
Based in southern Maine, Quinn Evans (she/her) uses portraiture to dissect the fragile relationship between body and self. Layering oils with a balance of technique and intuition, she builds figures that exist in liminal spaces—caught between vulnerability and defiance, reality and dream. Her compositions grapple with chronic illness, gender, and identity, framing the body as both celebrated subject and site of tension. Often referencing and challenging the Canon of Art History, her work reimagines the figure as a vessel for psychological weight, inviting viewers into spaces where intimacy and estrangement exist hand in hand.
Originally from Lancaster, PA, Evans (b. 1998) pursued her studies at Susquehanna University for three years before transferring to Franklin and Marshall College, where she completed her B.A. in Studio Art in 2021. She has exhibited her work extensively along the East Coast and has had several paintings acquired by institutions such as Franklin & Marshall College, Susquehanna University, and Kennesaw State University. In 2022, Evans participated in the "Bodies of Work" exhibition, hosted by the UMVA at the Portland Media Center, where she was one of four featured artists. She is a 2024 recipient of the Artist Springboard Grant from the Maine Arts Commission, which will fund a series of paintings to be show at Sidle House Gallery in Freeport, ME, August 2025.
Evans has taken classes at Franklin and Marshall College, Susquehanna University, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Alfred University, as well as with local art associations and artists. Her portfolio received the 2015 C.X. Carlson Award and Scholarship which helped fund four years of college education. Evans has had work acquired by the Phillips Museum of Art, the Martin Science Library at Franklin & Marshall College, as well as Department of Art, Art History, and Film at Franklin & Marshall College. Her piece "Isayah," was purchased by Kennesaw State University, GA, after receiving first place in the 2019 Art Competition at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research. Evans's painting, "In the Raw," was accepted into the 10th Annual National Figurative Drawing & Painting exhibition at the Lore Degenstein Gallery, juried by Lance Esplund, an art critic for the Wall Street Journal.
Evans's curatorial experience includes working as assistant manager at the Lore Degenstein Gallery, where she assisted in exhibition design and installation and co-curated the 2018 exhibition Abstract and Nonrepresentational Painting. In 2018, she had a prestigious internship at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. During her time at Franklin and Marshall College, Evans pursued independent research on how campus museums and galleries serve as valuable platforms for empathetic dialogue.
EDUCATION
Franklin and Marshall College
BA Studio Art & Art History
2019 - 2021
AWARDS / RECOGNITION
Artist Springboard Grant, Maine Arts Commission, 2024
Capstone Purchase Prize, Franklin & Marshall College, 2021
The Robert M. and Elizabeth Hatton Landis Art Award, Franklin & Marshall College, 2021
Evans received a Nissley Grant from Franklin and Marshall College for an Independent Project, 2020
First Place, National Conference of Undergraduate Research 2019 Art Competition:
Journeys Through the Civil Rights Movement: Then and Now