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.

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.

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.

Throughout the painting and design process, we reached out on social media with the prompt, " what story do your hands tell?" Students and community members responded with their own stories, describing their hands, skin, jewelry, tattoos, scars, callouses, wrinkles, and birthmarks along with their cultural, social, or sentimental memories about each detail. As we received responses, we implemented details inspired by these answers into the hands in the mural. These real-life examples enhanced the integrity of our overall design by involving our own community in the final product.

Mural artist Jennifer A. Evens (left) and Civic Fellow Victoria M. Evens (right) with completed 'Hands of Earth' Mural

McCarthy Center Open House

Written by Victoria M. Evens, Civic Fellow

As our first McCarthy Center event of the year, hosted an Open House to show off our mural and upcomingevents. We promoted the Open House as an extension of our CSB/SJU Involvement Fair booth, where we spokewith interested students about our programming and events, the McCarthy Mentor program, and our volunteerprogram. We also gave out McCarthy Center stickers, prints, and magnets of the new mural.

Approximately thirty students, staff, and faculty were in attendance at the Open House to celebrate the fall semester at the McCarthy Center. Director Matt Lindstrom commenced the evening with welcoming comments. He introduced our mission and provided an overview of our event schedule before introducing our wonderful staff of student coordinators. Fardusa Ahmed '23 promoted the McCarthy Mentor Program and offered information for students to apply. Finally, I spoke on the inspiration and process of the Hands of Earth Mural and introduced Jennifer Evens, who was also in attendance.

The evening was overwhelmingly successful with high attendance and heartfelt conversations between students, staff, faculty, and McCarthy Center staff. The event served as a space to inspire collaborations between the McCarthy Center and other CSB/SJU clubs and organizations, provide program information for new students, and connect with those interested in getting involved with the McCarthy Center.

Students mingle at the McCarthy Center Open House