Every once in a while, you come upon something that takes your breath away. Yesterday, it happened to me when I rounded the corner in a park and there in front of me was the most amazing structure. I couldn't wait to get closer and inspect every inch, becuase immediately I knew this was a one-of-a-kind experience. It was the Minnie Evans Bottle Chapel in Airlie Park, Wilmington, NC.
The bottle chapel is a seven-sided open air chapel built to honor folk artist Minnie Evans who died in 1987 leaving an amazing and mystical treasure of paintings and drawings. The chapel was the work of artist VirginiaWright-Frierson, who was there to tell her story and the story of this incredible building.
The chapel is built with wire, concrete and hundreds of bottles. Most of the bottles are still whole. You see the bottom of the bottle on the outside and the neck of the bottle on the inside. When the wind blows, the bottles sing! The artist incorporated Minnie Evans love of symmetry, nature, eyes, butterflies, rainbows, angels, trees and so much more. It is an incredible stucture, with a huge metal tree growing inside and countless details evoking Minnie Evans and her art.
Minnie was a large black woman who was employed at Airlie Gardens (where the Bottle Chapel is now located). She worked in a tiny, tiny ticket hut, where she sold admission tickets and painted. Cold in winter, blistering in the summer heat, and painting every day. Today her paintings sell for $10,000, $20,000 and more, but then Minnie often gave them away to visitors, although many were known to refuse them (their loss for sure!)
I don't know what was more moving, the story of this incredible folk artist or the story of building the chapel which was done as a labor of love. But it was an incredible afternoon and I would hope anyone who visits Wilmington, NC get to Airlie Gardens. I hear at night, when it is illuminated, the Bottle Chapel is truly magical, but I found it so in the middle of the day.
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