Evan Church occupies Studio 18 at the Foundry Art Centre. Here you will see Evan’s primary focus…the people of Africa, living life. To many Foundry visitors, this sparks curiosity. Once you get to know Evan, however, it becomes immediately clear why he has chosen to paint the day-to-day life of people in Africa and why he absolutely should be doing it.

Evan Church is a Third Culture Kid. A TCK is born in one country but raised in another from a young age. A combination of two cultures, but different. A third culture.

Evan, whose parents were missionaries, moved with his family to Africa in 1974 when he was 3 years old, during a critical time of civil unrest. The family was evacuated from what was then Rhodesia when the War for Independence intensified, but they were among the first to return to the independent Zimbabwe where re-building efforts were desperately needed. Evan and his brother, Eric, grew up there, in Zimbabwe and in neighboring Malawi, and established residencies in both countries.

After graduating from the renowned Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, Evan traveled to the United States to attend university at a small liberal arts school in Michigan where he considered a history major until the inevitable took over. He was good at art, and he painted African subject matter because he was homesick. During his junior year, something significant happened to Evan. He went home.

The Mission would fly students home from the university to Africa just one time, and for his one time, Evan stayed for seven months. He describes this period as “seeing Africa for the first time.” Looking at it then, through the eyes of an American college student, he clearly recalls the pivotal encounters and experiences that significantly altered his mindset…moments that accentuated the stark disparities between his two cultures. He refers to this as being off-balanced. And unfair.

Evan was no longer a kid growing up in Africa, and with an entirely new perspective, he flew back to the U.S. to finish up at the university. He distinctly remembers that day. His delayed flight sitting on the runway at Kamuzxu International Airport in Lilongwe, Malawi. As he watched the sunset through the airplane window, Evan made a commitment to himself… “If there’s anything I can do here, let me do it.”

Evan returned to the university and earned his Art degree, plus a minor in Sociology… a result of his renewed interest in social differences. After graduation, Evan returned to Africa where he spent a decade as a volunteer humanitarian aid worker during a time of significant strife. His work with development and relief projects took him to South Sudan, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, where Evan, at age 22, ran an orphanage whose mission it was to reunite families with children displaced by the conflict there. As it turns out, his “boots on the ground” are not the only way Evan has found to help.

In the beginning, homesickness was the primary motivator for Evan’s images of Africa. Now, a self-aware Evan Church understands the exclusivity of his experiences…and he paints them. He paints them with a mission to alter the perception of life in Africa, a continent whose people have suffered tremendously. Evan explains, “There is great beauty and simplicity and serenity. It is an important story to tell.” Two perfect examples of Evan’s story are his paintings, The Diani Fisherman and The Octopus Hunter… two guys on a fishing trip who welcomed Evan when he asked to tag along. His impressions of them are intimate, authentic, and revealing.

These pieces are from Evan’s Swahili Coast Collection. He describes the coast as “an amazing mixture of African and Middle Eastern cultures in gorgeous tropical surroundings.” The paintings are compelling. They draw us in and they make us wonder. It is this wondering that is Evan’s goal. Naturally, he hopes people love his artwork, but his genuine wish is that they come away with more understanding and curiosity of and about this remarkable area. It's a mission that has resonated not only with visitors to the Foundry Art Centre but also with the local community, earning him the 2026 Mid Rivers Newsmagazine Readers' Choice Award for Best Local Artist.