Aurora artist Chris Evans poses by his blind contour Santa Claus that hangs in the vacant Silverplate building at the southeast corner of Stolp Avenue and Downer Place.
When in downtown Aurora, a Santa selfie might be in order.
A 5-foot poster of Santa Claus by local artist Chris Evans fills one of the windows of the vacant Silverplate building along Stolp Avenue, across from the parking garage.
Evans, of Aurora, has two seasonal pieces up in the building. The other, a 5-foot Nutcracker hangs to the right of artist Brittany Tripp’s poster, the fourth in her Broadway Series. Tripp’s poster features one of Emory Seidel’s Memory sculptures and is a take off of Paramount’s production of Les Miserables.
A multi-talented artist, Evans is known for his blind contour drawings. In the last year, Evans had two shows at Yetee Gallery, 110 Cross St. in Aurora, featuring his drawings of characters from Wes Anderson films and, most recently, of his birthday blind contour drawings.
Evans explains the blind contour process here.
The festive blind contour drawings in the Silverplate building are part of a downtown-wide effort to decorate storefront windows for the holiday season. Over a dozen windows are decked out for the holidays, and YM Boutique at 5 W. Downer Pl. won the Winter Lights window contest sponsored by the city of Aurora and Aurora Downtown.
Both the large Santa and Nutcracker were commissioned by the Vacant Window Project and paid for by Aurora Downtown, a group of downtown business and property owners. The posters will hang in the windows until the New Year. They are available as 11 x 17 prints, and they will be for sale at Yetee Gallery during the Bad Santa show on Dec. 5.
