IT WAS not the most likely career move. At 52, Tony Evans was an insurance worker. “I was literally the man from the Pru,” he laughs.
But his decision to enrol on a watercolour painting course after he retired changed everything.
Five years later, the grandfather-of-three graduated with a degree in art.
Now his sculptures are sold and exhibited across the country.
The 64-year-old’s latest display opened at Liverpool town hall yesterday, centred on his imposing yet intricate gathering of life-sized animals.
The unlikely flock includes a foal, wildebeest, a baboon and a goat.
Mr Evans, who was born and raised in Wavertree, but now lives in Frodsham, Cheshire, said: “I am delighted. The town hall is a superb venue, so this is a great opportunity for people to come and see such a remarkable building, too.”
The exhibition is part of a drive to encourage people to follow in the footsteps of the Queen, The Beatles and the Dalai Lama and see inside the 18th-century building, in Dale Street.
The town hall will open to the public from 10am to 4.30pm until August 28, with tours conducted every morning.
Mr Evans’s work sits alongside work by photographers Jim Connolly and Jon Grieve and painter Christine Enright.
In the seven years he has worked as an artist, his sculptures have been displayed in public galleries and commissioned by private individuals and companies.
He sculpted the giant Pegasus horse with a 12ft wingspan which leaps from the wall at Liverpool Community College, in Myrtle Street.
He said: “All the time I was working, I never really thought about art.
“I did bits and pieces with my two children. I drew for them and made Plasticine models, but it never went beyond the odd painting on a piece of A4 paper framed in our dining room.”
