© Jeremy Kyle 

Artist Statement and Biography:

Evelyn "Evie" Chan is an aspiring artist residing in Portland, Oregon. She was born in San Francisco, California and is a California girl at heart. She is mixed-race, half Chinese and half white. She explores diverse art forms including drawing, painting, screen printing, 3D paper work, mixed media, and quilting. In addition to studio art, Evie is an accomplished dancer. Ever since she can remember, she has loved to dance and has performed in multiple professional productions including George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. Even before she could walk, she would dance around the house, and to this day, she practices pirouettes in the kitchen when she thinks no one is looking. Additionally, she played the violin for 12 years, though recently she decided to devote more time to ballet.  

Evie's creative work explores the intersection of nature, culture, and activism. Her most recent work is inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and honors the beauty and fragility of marine life. Her hand drawn screen prints of sardines, whale sharks, sea urchins, starfish, and kelp tell a story of ocean ecosystems under threat. She uses these symbols to reflect on issues such as overfishing, habitat destruction, and climate change. By transforming these prints into a quilt, she creates a narrative of interconnectedness, just as marine life is integral to the fabric of our planet. The act of sewing becomes an act of preservation and a way of holding onto something that is slipping away. Her work is both a reflection on the loss of marine life and a call to protect what remains.