Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Clara Evans


As published on carlsbad.patch.com; Nov. 28, 2010

Everyone Has a Story; Clara Evans Has an Extraordinary One

Meet the lady behind the artist.


   On any given weekend in front of Carlsbad Inn, you may find, as I did, artist Clara Evans.
Clara was born and raised in Amsterdam, immigrated to America, went back to Holland for college, then to North Carolina, Florida and finally California (Pacific Beach) where she's "been in the same house since 1958."  Much of her artwork draws on memories of these travels.
She commutes to Carlsbad from Pacific Beach on a regular basis. She'd love to live here and prefers Carlsbad "because it's such a peaceful [yet active] area." But one of her three sons and grandchildren are there in PB, so she's "staying close to them."
Clara's closeness with her family is deep-rooted. You see, when she was 9 years old and her parents were planning their immigration to America, her mom protested the date on the tickets that her dad brought home. Obeying his wife's wishes, he got them listed on a later departure on another ship. A few days later they learned that their original vessel had hit two German mines and sank within minutes in the North Sea. Clara declares that her family was certainly blessed that day and that they shed many tears together over the years for the families that lost their lives.
Whoever coined the phrase "Everyone has a story to tell" was spot on. It's true-life stories like Clara's that are in each of us. Some are grand, some are sublime, some are poignant, some are strange—and the list goes on. But the only way to hear the history and thoughts bottled up in that regular person next to you in line at the Farmers Market, walking along Carlsbad Boulevard or just sitting at the Carlsbad Inn art exhibit, is to ask. 

###

the backstory...

I didn't get the bit about that fateful day until I had her show me some of her art. I noticed that in a number of pieces, she had renderings of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse along with tiny, tiny printing. First, I asked about the lighthouse, "Well, that," she said, "is the first thing I remember seeing when we finally got to America." Then the tiny printing... "Those are all shipwrecks that happened along the North Carolina coast since they've been keeping records." Okay, fair enough. "You immigrated to America?" I asked, "How did that go?" Seeing the drawings of the lighthouse and the list of shipwrecks along with her using the word "finally" clued me in... and being the socially aware person that I am, I knew there HAD to have been an issue. And there was; and that's when she told me.

She couldn't remember many details but gave me enough to verify the events and here's what I found: I believe they were to sail on a Finnish military ship called the Ilmarinen. She had mentioned that her dad worked for a shipyard and that some big flagship vessel was to carry them to America- that's all she knew/could remember. The Ilmarinen is the only ship on record that has ever been struck by two German sea mines in the North Sea. This was in September 1941 and it was the flagship of the fleet.

Apparently, I believe, they were going to another port in the North Sea, then on to another ship headed for the shipyard at Cape Hattaras. I think she had/has no idea it was a military transport. Her father was most likely being transferred by the Finnish Navy to the US for who knows whatever reason. Being that she was nine, she didn't have all those details, and I guess was never really given them later in life.

At any rate, it was a major sinking to the Finnish military- their flagship vessel; 132 survived, 271 lost. The ship was completely submerged in seven minutes.

Everything I verified correlates to the few sketchy details she gave me in that brief interview, surrounded by her art on the side of the road.

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The Backstory on "People We'll Meet on the Street"

   On November 15, 2010, my column on carlsbad.patch.com officially launched. Called People We'll Meet on the Street, I modeled this series of real-people snippits after a documentary project I edited in 2006 for director David W. Gibbons. That project, 14 Days in Great Britain, won critical, yet limited acclaim.

For me, 14 Days is an experience, not just a video documentary. It's thought-provoking and inspires a broad stroke view of the world from the mouthes of common every-day folk.

© 2005 Lighthouse/Hursey
Along with the video crew, Gibbons had two still photographers on location doing both studio and environmental portraits for what was to be a heavy-bound coffee table book. It's these environmental portraits done by LA photographer Dana Hursey that literally took my breath away when I first saw them. And today, they still do.

So when the opportunity came up to get onboard with the local patch.com bureau (an AOL venture), I presented this modified and localized concept of 14 Days to Carlsbad editor Deanne Goodman: Done as a weekly column; like Gibbons, I would simply go out on the town and talk to people. Like Hursey, I would (attempt) to take an awesome environmental portrait them.

Goodman agreed and the column is underway.


© 2010 dconder.llc
Now, it's easier to describe these stories in terms of what they are not rather than what they are: They are not news. There may be some local and timely insight from time-to-time, but this is opinion. Simple as that. Some will be commonplace, some will be extraordinary. That's life. Some will be posted on Patch. Some will not.

As new articles come online, whether it be through patch.com, other national media or my local desktop, I'll bounce them to this blog along with a little more backstory, if any. You can follow along here, or use this direct link to the column on Patch: People We'll Meet on the Street.

Unfortunately, Gibbons' 14 Days Project has been put on indefinite hiatus due to funding; and DVD copies of the documentary are all but extinct.

There are a few archival links still online that will give you a feel for what this endeavor was all about:
For more about 14 Days in Great Britain:
          http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/printout.php?articleid=341

To inquire about the 14 Days Project: info@davidgibbons.org
For more about patch.com: www.patch.com/about

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