Painful necessity blossoms into whimsical art
CraftEvalution is about to make their pop-up debut on Saturday, July 13th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Common General’s Grand Re-Opening with a multitude of artistic items like food illustrations, mini hand-crafted felt pies, and Pride Dynos.
Eva Fournier created CraftEvalution three and a half years ago after a car accident that took her appendix but generated a business model. “I was bed stricken and needed something that made money from the room I was trapped in.”
With an art and business background, Eva intended to market the business as “I can do your Pinterest ideas so that it is still a homemade craft but not a craft that you had to make.”
To me, this seems like a great idea because we all know too many Pinterest fails. However, that didn’t stick, so Eva began accepting regular art commissions.
Utilizing several mediums like traditional ink and digital illustration, Eva prefers ink pens, high-quality ink markers, cross stitch and hand-sewn felt. “I have recently started using Perler beads because they are a nostalgic form of art from my childhood and it, like cross stitch, is a very pixelated art which I am fond of.”
“Pride Dynos” is the first of a Perler beads series that mixes dinosaurs with Pride flag colors, such as a Bicerotops, a Triceratops that is pansexual, or a Stegosaurus that is trans. Other LGBT items include the “Gay Greetings” series. These prints, which will be available in postcard size, are done in different Pride flags, such as a pansexual “Hello” which is pink, yellow, and blue or a bisexual “Hey” in blue, pink, and purple.
“I am a southern queer and that is not something we see in this town, but I have a vast portfolio so I don’t want to pick a niche,” Eva says.
Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Eva went to the University of North Georgia for art marketing, a combination of fine art and business. Sadly, the woman who raised Eva was dying of cancer during this time so, in order to spend more time with her, Eva decided to reroute her education and leave with a business administration degree.
“(The degree) is helpful obtaining some jobs but it is hard to get an art-oriented job even though I have the knowledge,” Eva explains.
A former professional wedding photographer and stage manager for the recent “Urinetown” with the Ensemble Theatre, Eva has an interesting resume that also includes creating logos for Critical Misses and Atlanta Terminus, as well as spending an occasional weekend as a non-skating official for the Chattanooga Roller Girls.
In fact, I first came into contact with Eva through the Chattanooga Roller Girls in 2015 but then discovered CraftEvalution on display at Studio 27 in Shelly Cheek’s massage office where several pieces, like my favorite Tri-Color Mother, are for sale. A new favorite penned piece, Gemma’s Garden, is a collection of nature photos that Eva took years ago, now given a bold, black-light vibe.
In 2018, Eva began heavily advertising CraftEvalution’s commissions to prepare for anticipated medical bills. After more than a decade of pain, Eva underwent a hysterectomy and is now missing five organs, four just from the hysterectomy. Just as when she had appendix surgery, Eva planned to execute the commissions during her recovery time.
However, this surgery was more invasive and expected recovery time went from one month to two. “They discovered I had polycystic ovaries along with endometriosis. One ovary was twice the size it should of been.”
With a little over six months since surgery, Eva was able to complete the commissions but is still trying to tackle the medical bills.
CraftEvalution’s Instagram has a highlight section of items currently for sale but commissions are always welcome and can range from two-inch ornaments to two-foot banners.
“One of the coolest pieces I ever created, ‘Faded Memories’, was derived from two family photos of a painting that was destroyed in a fire.”
Eva explains how she worked with two photos that were not high resolution or close to the subject: “In the photos, the painting was the size of a stamp; therefore, it had to be zoomed in several times so I had very little to work with. But I, and the family, was more than pleased with how it turned out.”
For either a personal or business custom piece, contact CraftEvalution@gmail.com or visit the Common General’s Grand Re-Opening on Saturday, July 13th and you could win a raffle basket consisting of a $25 CraftEvalution gift certificate.