Hands of Earth
Mural by Jennifer A. Evens "Our hands tell our stories; from our visible identities like race and age to our lived experience as laborers, farmers, artists, and more..." Written by Victoria M. Evens, Civic Fellow Since starting as the Civic Fellow in September of 2020, I've made it my goal to strengthen the interdisciplinary approach of the McCarthy Center through art and creativity. Over the past year, I've designed McCarthy Center tshirts and items, hosted a sticker design contest, and designed and edited this magazine since Issue 4. These creative initiatives have inspired me to think bigger about public art, community, and civic engagement. In the Spring of 2021, I pitched the idea to commission an original mural to the McCarthy Center team. My goal was to visualize the values of the McCarthy Center, namely the idea of community working together towards the common good of the people, to create a tangible representation of what we believe in. This began a months-long process of drafting and coordinating with CSB/SJU, the McCarthy Center, and local artist Jennifer Evens. I wanted to incorporate identity and intersectionality into the theme of community work, so I developed the idea to represent diversity and togetherness through hands. Our hands tell our stories: from our visible identities like race and age, to our lived experience as laborers, farmers, artists, and more. My hands tell my story. My hands are pale and freckled, with calloused fingertips and chipped nails, and a rainbow bracelet around my wrist. My mother's hands are artists' hands, strong but delicate, marked with years of painting, sketching, assembling, and creating. My partner's hands are soft but scarred. Our hands are subtle, visual cues of our unique experiences. Jennifer Evens is a visual artist and advocate of public art. Her bright and welcoming murals can be found in various locations in MN, including St. Boniface pre-school in Cold Spring. Her art spans many mediums including photography, mosaics, painting, and jewelry. She is a memorial artist for Create a Legacy in Stone, where she creates custom designs for granite pieces.
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My mother and local artist, Jennifer Evens, helped me develop this concept further. Her artistic expertise and love for nature inspired an environmental aspect to the design. After many discussions on the topic, we landed on the idea of hands reaching up, holding up the Earth, with flowers framing the bottom of the piece. To me, this represents the unification of people and nature. As we reach out with hope and unity, we can work together to find peace in the common good for the people and our planet.
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