What's our superpower? Our own lives. An encore conversation with Kris Evans

“Don’t ever not be curious.” That’s Kris Evans’ advice for tapping into our creative superpowers. Evans is an awarding winning makeup artist with experience in feature films, television, commercials, music videos, fashion editorial and advertising. She started her career in New York City working with Barbara Walters, Saturday Night Live, feature films and episodic television. Her film career spans more than 35 features and includes working with Bob Costas for every Olympics from 2002-2016.

Transcript:

Hey Dareful tribe—you’re listening to one of your favorite episodes as an encore with artist Kris Evans. It originally posted in 2021 so a few updates: I talked with Kris this week and she says she’s back to work now that the actor’s strike is over. Look for her work in the TV show Big Sky for Disney and Francis Ford Coppola’s new film Megalopolis. She also just finished a book, Naked Shadows...hopefully more on that in a future episode. And now, Kris Evans:

Debra Hotaling (00:04):

Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling and I'm joined today by Kris Evans. Kris has built a thriving career in Hollywood for more than 40 years in every aspect of the arts that you can imagine. Kris, you've done makeup design for film, for tv, for Broadway. You've done it all.

Kris Evans (00:25):

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Gosh, I lived in Paris. I did fashion. It's opera. I mean, I think I love it all. So anything that gave me the opportunity to do whatever, that would be challenging and interesting I took. So I never really said no to anything. I said yes to everything. And then once I said yes, I thought, oh my God. And then I figured it out.

Debra (00:52):

And it sounds like we were talking about the creative process and how really your superpower now is the history that you have not only in the industry, but in the arts in general, and just being a really curious woman for your whole life. And while everyone else is looking at TikTok and trying to come up with something new, you are looking at vogue from the 1960s or things that we all know. Tell me more about your creative process.

Kris (01:22):

Well, I just find that because the internet is so easy to get to by everyone, that everyone goes to the internet. So when you're thinking creatively, everyone goes to Instagram or everyone goes to TikTok or everyone goes to Facebook. I mean, let's not say everyone, but a lot of people do. And I noticed that when I am on a project or something, it's the first thing that people go to is the internet. And so for me, in order to seem fresh and not like I'm copying or not grabbing something from someone else per se, recently, I like to go back in time or in different areas where I don't think people will go. So that what I see will maybe inspire me to think of something I wouldn't have thought of had I been influenced by other people, if that makes sense.

Debra (02:16):

It totally makes sense. And I was thinking about this this morning, getting ready to chat with you that I still have in one of my little girlhood boxes where you keep all your rocks and special shells. I have pages that I tore out of Vogue and Women's Day and Better Homes and Gardens from the 1960s that someone would leave in a spare bedroom. They were so glamorous. They were so lovely. And I still go back and enjoy looking at those images.

Kris (02:47):

Well, it's so funny you say sixties and seventies because now for me, the eighties is period, and then is period for me. So when they say, oh, the eighties, I say, aha. And then I bring in a picture of me in the eighties, blonde, bleached blonde, living in Paris, and they go, wow, who's that? Yeah, that would be me.

Kris (