Judith Evans Obituary

Judith Ann Futral Evans, artist, passed away on March 27, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. She was 87 years old.

Judy was born on February 18, 1939, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Hazel Matthews and Thomas Futral. She was yearbook editor and cheerleader at Fort Smith High School, then went on to Hendricks College and the University of Arkansas, where she studied painting under Neppie Conner. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where she also met her future husband, Jeptha Evans. They were married in 1962.

Their daughter, Clara, was born in Iowa City on October 11, 1964. The family moved to Long Beach, California, where their son, Jeptha, was born on June 13, 1967. They later relocated to New Jersey, and Judy joined the faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson University, teaching art history from 1970 to 1976. She and Jeptha divorced in 1975.

From 1976 to 1984, Judy worked a series of sales jobs — with a vocational school, a shipping company, and a telecom firm — while raising her children and continuing to paint. In 1980, she founded the Blue Mountain Gallery in SoHo, one of the few venues dedicated to representational art during a period dominated by abstract art.

In 1984, Judy gained admission to the United Scenic Artists Union and worked as a scenic artist until 2003. Her credits included numerous films by Spike Lee and Woody Allen. She worked at the Metropolitan Opera and on Saturday Night Live for many years. She also worked on GoodFellas, The Ice Storm, Legal Eagles, The Money Pit, Spin City, and numerous other films and commercials.

She never stopped developing as an artist. In the late 1990s she took up portrait painting and received several commissions, including two from Mount Sinai Hospital. In the 2000s she returned to pastels, winning multiple awards and earning the title of Master Pastelist from the Pastel Society of America.

Judy met her longtime companion, Jim Fleming, in 1993. For most of their relationship, Jim traveled between his home in Glasgow and Judy’s apartment in Brooklyn, spending six weeks in each place. Judy and Jim developed a warm group of friends in both New York and Glasgow. They also traveled throughout Europe, visiting galleries along the way. Judy made her last trip to visit Jim in Glasgow in 2019. Jim died in 2022.

Judy lived on Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn from 1987 to 2023. She loved her neighborhood and painted the Brooklyn Botanic Garden regularly, walked in Prospect Park, and was a familiar and beloved face to the shop owners along her route in Park Slope.

Judy was relentlessly optimistic. In her later years, Judy developed dementia, which gradually affected her memory and her vocabulary, but it did not change her outlook. Her favorite phrase, until the very end, was “we are so lucky” and she meant it.

Judy is survived by her daughter, Clara Evans; her son, Jeptha Evans; her daughter-in-law, Cynthia Evans; her grandchildren, Aubrey and Ellery Evans; her brother, Charlie Futral; and her sister-in-law, Anna Futral.