Community compels art

Hamilton, Ohio – The adage says all politics are local. Holds true in art, too.

Amanda Leigh Evans took personal living experiences and turned them into universal art - including ceramic objects merged with print and digital media - in the Rock & Root exhibition at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.

“Each of these sites in (the Bever North Gallery) are places I’ve lived or worked or where family lived,” she said. “And each of them has been touched by the way people have lived there.”

Evans grew up in Grass Valley, a gold-mining town in northern California. When the gold was gone, however, toxic waste was one of the things left behind. Her artwork in the Rock & Root exhibition reflects that human footprint.

“I love being outside and being in nature,” she said. “I want to be part of keeping our natural spaces clean and viable for future generations to enjoy.

“I used ceramics for this exhibition because ceramics is earth. Once clay is fired, it has been changed forever. A lot of these sites have been changed forever as well.”

Evans credited an organization similar to the Fitton Center - The Center for the Arts – in Grass Valley with helping to propel her artistic journey.

“I felt like I could be a part of a community of creative people there,” she said. "I never went to an art museum until I was I college, but I had The Center for the Arts.”

Now an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Evans was the first in her family to go to college. She said both parents working with their hands – her father as a carpenter, her mother in a hair salon – influenced her hands-on choice of ceramics.

“That’s one of the reasons I was excited to show at the Fitton Center,” she said. “Community art centers like this are so important to give people exposure to the arts close to home. We shouldn’t have to drive to a big city to go to an art museum. I want art to be available to anyone and share that experience of seeing art with everyone.”

Evans solo show in Rock & Root partners with solo work by Cathryn Amidei of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a two-person show featuring works by Amy Kollar Anderson of Dayton, Ohio, and Amanda Lechner of Blacksburg, Viriginia.

Rock & Root kicks off with a gallery-opening celebration from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 25, and remains on view through January 9, 2026. Fitton Center galleries are always free and open to the public.

The exhibition’s opening celebration runs in conjunction with the first show in the 2025-2026 Fitton Showstoppers performance series. The Conjurors make their Hamilton debut with a magical, mystical, mind-bending performance in the Fitton Family Theater. Tickets are $41 for Fitton Center Members, $51 for non-members and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office.

The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.

Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture