Retail Collections

There Has to Be Magic: The Art of Evelyn Kok, embodies the overarching spirit of the irrepressible Evelyn Kok; painter, musician, composer, luthier, world renowned medical illustrator, impish punster, tramper and poet. Evelyn’s life embodies the creative spirit lived fully through every cell of her being. Advantaged by a long lineage of adventurous souls beginning with her great grandfather, Simon Wing, photographer, inventor and the first presidential candidate for the Socialist Party through her grandfather, inventor, photographer and musician Harvey Wing to her mother Cora Wing Olsen, sculptor, Evelyn rose up in a milieu populated with folks who charted their own course — original and fearless thinkers, makers and doers. Raised with implicit permission to live life on her own terms, Evelyn Kok was a woman who stood her ground, win or lose, living life beyond the bounds of social convention. She inspired others to be fully themselves, mark their own path and protect their light. She embraced the creative life on her own terms, dedicated to her calling.

Beautifully illustrated, the book offers the reader a voyage that will resonate with all those who understand the pull of beauty, the salve of the creative process. Evelyn was a brave and solid soul, responding to life with an expansive embrace unfettered by public opinion, a drive for personal gain or riches.

Readers will readily understand what those who knew Evelyn often said of her, that she wrought a sort of magic, an enchantment, because she did, in fact, believe, lived it and breathed it —— that there has to be magic.