LEWISTON – Helen Evans, who curated two popular and critically acclaimed exhibitions of Byzantine art at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, will visit Bates College to discuss the creation of those shows.

Her talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall on Andrews Road. It’s titled “Presenting Early Christian and Byzantine Art at the Met.”

Evans curated “The Glory of Byzantium (843-1261)” in 1997 and its sequel, “Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557)” in 2004 for the Met. Both drew works from important collections worldwide, including from the monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece and of St. Catherine’s Monastery of Mount Sinai, which loaned 40 icons that had never before left the monastery.

Each show was named a major cultural event of its year by The New York Times and one of the top five exhibitions of its year by the London-based art magazine Apollo. The 2004 show also received significant awards for its catalog.

At Bates, Evans will describe the process of conceiving and organizing the two exhibitions.

“Her visit gives us an unparalleled opportunity to hear firsthand, from one of the world’s leading curators, about the complex process of putting together great exhibitions,” said Rebecca Corrie, Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture at Bates and a contributor to the catalogs for both shows.

Curator of Byzantine art at the Met, Evans joined the museum’s Department of Medieval Art in 1991 and became a full curator in 1999. She has written numerous scholarly articles and co-authored catalogs for exhibitions she organized at the Met as well as the Morgan Library in New York, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the Benaki Museum in Athens and the Foundation Pierre Gianadda in Switzerland.

Evans has taught at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Oberlin College, and has lectured extensively in Europe and America. Her panel and committee memberships include two positions connected with the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai and a post on the Scientific Committee for the Exhibition for the 500th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, Vatican City.

A graduate of Newcomb College of Tulane University, she was chosen the Newcomb Alumna of the Year in 2005, and has been honored by the American Hellenic Institute and the Hellenic American Women’s Council.

Evans received her master’s degree and doctorate from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has held fellowships from the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, the Samuel F. Kress Foundation and the American Academy in Rome.

Evans’ talk is open to the public at no cost. A reception will follow her talk.

For more information, call 786-6135.