Come see this art work by signing up to volunteer at IMC's Work Day on July 9th from 11am-4pm!

Over the years, IMC has had the privilege of holding space for artists to share their gifts with the community and sometimes they leave us with parting gifts. One of which is the revered Christopher Evans! Chris is an Urbana-Champaign resident who moved to the area in 1976. He attended high school in CU, Parkland College, and UIUC majoring in painting. While attending UIUC, he served as a teacher’s assistant for a sculptural class. There he warmly supported non-art majoring students in creating sculptural masterpieces. Members of the classes frequently found themselves without the capacity to take their large cardboard sculptures with them to the next chapter of their life so they would give them to Chris. And with them, Chris would bless the IMC with cardboard sculptures of all types, shapes and sizes ranging from giant rocking chairs to a three-foot-tall shoe! 

While he was a student, he made a series of sculptural blocks that displayed newspaper clippings on them. Each of the newspaper clippings fall under the topic of the war on drugs. In the audience reading each of the clippings they are invited to critically analyze the efforts on behalf of our racist, anti-poor American government. Chris reveals how racially motivated the War on Drugs really was and how counter effective and harmful some of the policing efforts were. Chris currently is a member of the City Council and will forever hold a special place in IMC’s heart.

You may have seen some of these sculptures over the years and if you want a chance to get up close and personal, join us for a clean-up day on Sunday, July 9th from 11am-4pm. We will be dusting off and finding new homes for some of the structures that remain in the venue space above our mural! Sign up for the work day here!