A celebration of the work and life of Vivien Evers
Creek Creative Studios, Faversham
This week Creek Creative Studios hosted a moving Memorial Exhibition, Still Lives, a solo show of paintings and mixed media works honouring and celebrating the life of the artist Vivien Evers (Elizabeth Vivien Louise Evers, 18 February 1944 – 3 October 2025).
Vivien graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 1964 and dedicated much of her life to teaching art while continuing her own creative practice well into her eighties. Having lived in Faversham for the last fifty years, she became a valued member of the local artistic community through the Challock Art Group and exhibitions at Creek Creative and the Pilgrims Way Art Show in Lenham. This exhibition served not only as a tribute to her unique talent, but also as an opportunity for friends, family, and the wider community to spend time reflecting on her life and enjoying her remarkable paintings.
The exhibition itself felt deeply refreshing — filled with light, vitality, colour, and generosity of spirit. Vivien Evers transformed still life painting into something vibrant and immersive, creating compositions that felt both effortless and carefully orchestrated. Her works carried an immediate sense of joy and freedom while revealing an exceptional understanding of balance, rhythm, and space.
One of the most striking qualities of the exhibition was the way each painting guided the viewer’s eye continuously across the surface. Patterns, flowers, fruit, ceramics, and decorative details moved together harmoniously, allowing the gaze to travel from one discovery to another. Every composition contained subtle surprises: delicate shifts in colour, playful contrasts, layered textures, and beautifully observed details that slowly revealed themselves over time.
The paintings possessed a remarkable lightness that resisted the static quality often associated with traditional still life. Instead, the works felt alive and in conversation with the viewer. Evers’ use of colour was particularly strong — bold yet sensitive — creating compositions full of warmth, rhythm, and movement. Her paintings appeared intuitive and spontaneous, but beneath that ease was a sophisticated compositional intelligence.
What made the exhibition especially memorable was the way every artwork seemed to pull the viewer inward and hold their attention longer than expected. Unlike many still life paintings that can be absorbed at a glance, Evers’ works encouraged prolonged looking. The eye returned repeatedly, discovering new relationships between shapes, patterns, and objects each time. There was always another corner to notice, another balance of colour to appreciate, another visual dialogue unfolding quietly across the canvas.
More than simply a memorial exhibition, Still Lives became a celebration of attentiveness, creativity, and the pleasure of seeing. Vivien Evers’ paintings remind us that still life can remain contemporary, playful, emotionally resonant, and endlessly engaging when approached with such sensitivity and imagination.
The exhibition stood as a beautiful tribute to an artist whose work continues to radiate warmth, curiosity, and quiet brilliance.