The Very Hungry Canerpillar

This is the second year Greg has been involved in a great cause: Canstruction! Greg's work put together a great team of people to build this replica of the classic children's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to raise awareness and donations of food for the Second Harvest Food Shelter.

The event is organized by the Society of Design Adminstrators, of which I am a member and treasurer on the local level. Events like this happen all over the country throughout the year, so even if you're not from the Twin Cities, be on the look out for one near you.

Greg's team spent all day yesterday building this structure, and has spent the last few months organizing, designing, practicing, and fundraising/donation collecting.

This year's event raised over 14,000 pounds of food and over 14,000 cans which will be distributed to people and non-profits in need. As you can see, Greg's team did a fantastic job on their giant sculpture and were rewarded for their efforts with the "Best Use of Labels" and "People's Choice" awards as well as an honorable mention for creative and quality and creation of an icon. The other three entries can be seen below:

A Minneapolis Icon

The team from ATS&R took home the "Best Meal" and "Juror's Favorite" for this can-made replica of a Minneapolis icon: the cherry and spoon sculpture from the Walker Art Center & the skyline in the background. Their theme was "Tuna Salad in the Park" and was created from, among other things, the canned and boxed goods needed to make a Tuna Pasta Salad. The Juror's noted the great ability to carry theme through, the attention to detail (like the cherry is made with cans of cherry pie filling and the back of the sculpture is the logo for the event), and the quality as reasons for picking it as their favorite.

St. CANthony Falls

The part of downtown Minneapolis that is depicted here the St. Anthony area. The most iconic part of that district is the Stone Arch Bridge, which you see depicted here in the black and gold cans on the right hand "wall" of this sculpture. You can see the river depicted on floor, including a reflection of the bridge. The back wall depicts the city skyline. This sculpture was created by a team from LHB, who participated in the event for the first time this year. They were the only brand-new team this year, and were very perseverent...their structure fell down about a third of the way through the allotted construction time yesterday, and yet they started on over and succeeded in creating this sculpture by the end of the day. They were awarded an honorable mention for the sensitive use of organic foods.

And last but not least...

This can structure was done by the team from Cuningham Group and their theme was "wiping out hunger one can at a time". So they had this tornado tearing up the land, and aiming for the word hunger, which was most legible when viewed from above, but also legible from the side view. Considering the venue (Mall of America) where the upper stories of this area can overlook the sculptures, it was neat to see them play up the two views. This structure won the "Stuctural Ingenuity" award for the design of their tornado.