Support the Galleries & Alumnus McNair Evans ’01

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Belk Visual Art Center, and in conjunction with our exhibition, Homecoming: Art by Alumni, we are delighted to offer a work of art for sale by award-winning photographer McNair Evans ’01. This beautiful, limited edition work (5 with 1 Artist Proof) encapsulates Evans’ In Search of Great Men, a multi-year project supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Evans grew up in a small farming town in North Carolina and discovered photography while studying anthropology at Davidson College. His Guggenheim supported project, In Search of Great Men, explores themes of shared experiences and identity through photographs and first-person, passenger-written journals of train travelers the artist met on long distance Amtrak trips over a period of four years.

Evans’ notes: “The Aristocrat, the California Zephyr, the Empire Builder…They were once our great-grandfathers’ vision of progress. From their inception and race across the North American continent, these trains shaped our nation’s identity. While the U.S. freight industry operates more than 139,679 miles of track, Amtrak is a skeleton of the passenger service that once connected the county.

The train can be a beautiful way to travel but, for the most part, long-distance trains are used by people trying to get their lives together, find work, or reunite with people they love and hope will love them back. This project explores that search for something just out of reach and a bit intangible. It is about the desire for change and the possibility of hope fulfilled.”

We invite you to consider adding this fantastic work to your collection. Your purchase not only supports Evans’ project, but 50% of the purchase price will be donated to the Van Every/Smith Galleries for the acquisition of new works of art for the permanent art collection.