Nicholas Evans

Nicholas Evans was born in Aberdare, Cynon Valley. He started working as a coal miner at 13 years old, but after the death of his father 3 years later at Fforchaman Colliery, he went to work with trains. He eventually worked as a train engine driver with Great Western Railway, which had links to the coal industry in the Cynon Valley. He started drawing whilst at school, but couldn't carry on working on his talent due to a lack of money to pay for materials. He started painting seriously again after retirement. He started by painting with his hands and rags, and square pieces of hardboard bought from local shops. The subjects that Evans painted reflected his two main interests, coal mining and his Christian beliefs. He was different to many other artists of his time as he chose to show the coal miners as victims instead of as heroes. A vast majority of his pictures are in black and white, or with dark grey and dark blue. He was known best in the art world as Nick Evans, as this is how he signed his work, Nick Evans died in 2004.