GRIT & GRACE - hardback POETRY book

Contemporary multi-disciplinary artist Crystal D. Evans has been featured in the January 2026 edition of Sandwich Community Ad Magazine (Issue 67), with a double-page spread by editor Matthew Hemmings highlighting her work and exhibitions.

The feature focuses on Evans’ immersive exhibition What Remains, which combines photography, sculpture, poetry, text, and sound to explore the nature of narrative — how stories are told, who tells them, and how memory and personal experience shape meaning. The exhibition resists tidy answers, creating space for reflection and discovery. Poetry appears throughout the work in subtle and surprising ways: quietly alongside images, performed live, or embedded within and around sculptures, inviting audiences to uncover layers of story and significance.

At its core, What Remains asks what lingers after change, loss, or rupture, and encourages reflection on what individuals carry forward. The exhibition was developed during Evans’ MA Fine Art studies at UCA Canterbury, where she researched the intersection of perception, memory, and narrative in contemporary art.

What Remains has been presented in multiple international and UK contexts, including Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Canterbury, Bath, and Sandwich. Each setting provides a unique dialogue with the work: Venice highlighted historical and architectural resonance; contemporary galleries in Rome, Barcelona, and Canterbury emphasised philosophical and socio-political readings; while Bath and Sandwich fostered slower, more intimate engagement and open-hearted discussions with audiences.

The exhibition has been particularly praised for its ability to connect with viewers on a personal level. Feedback frequently highlights a sense of recognition and empathy, reflecting the work’s capacity to open conversations around care, grief, legacy, and shared humanity. Collaborative events alongside the exhibition, including sessions with Nina Harrison Leins of the Holburne Museum and James Byron of Dorothy House Hospice Care, further extended these dialogues into the community.

Evans’ artistic journey began with early musical training on violin and piano, moving through cultural ethnography, photography, life drawing, and writing. Her practice is informed by artists including Shirin Neshat, Kara Walker, and Artemisia Gentileschi, as well as poets such as Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, and Christina Rossetti, whose work inspires her approach to form, restraint, and emotional intensity.

Sandwich itself provides an environment well-suited to Evans’ work, offering a combination of historical context, intimate scale, and engagement with local audiences that enhances the exhibition experience.

Audiences can explore Evans’ work further on Instagram @crystal_evans_creates or via her website www.crystalevanscreates.com, which features her portfolio, reviews, and links to purchase the first-edition signed hardback of What Remains, containing all photo-poems printed on silk paper.

What Remains will next be on display at Strange Cargo Arts, Folkestone (The Factory, 43 Geraldine Rd, Cheriton, CT19 4BD) from 6–8 March 2026, welcoming audiences to experience the work in person.

The Arts Society magazine, is the international publication for The Arts Society (registered charity no. 1089743) which has a vibrant network of over 92,000 individual Members and more than 350 local Societies in the UK and mainland Europe. With a circulation of 82,000, The Arts Society Magazine is the official membership magazine for The Arts Society, and it is published three times a year. 

In their Winter 2023 edition, several works by Crystal Evans were featured on page 60 alongside an article titled 'Inspiring Summer Show', in the context of her being featured at The Summer Arts Exhibition by The Arts Society Sandwich, and The Arts Society Dover, Deal, & Sandwich.