Discovered

Last Friday night STL DesignWeek wrapped a great run of events with AIGA St Louis’ annual charity art auction Discovered. The event was held downtown at the newly renovated St. Louis Central Library, with proceeds going to the St Louis Public Library Foundation. It’s worth pointing out that the library recently reopened after undergoing a $70 million renovation and the building itself truly is a work of art—inside and out. Check out the photo gallery at the top left of this article.

The Discovered challenge was straightforward. Artists were required to create an original work of art from an old book. The results were incredibly varied and showed that when you give 40 artists a challenge, you get 40 very different solutions.

Full disclosure: I started this event in 2010 to bring local artists and designers together for a good cause. LoveCrush benefited The American Heart Association, FoodStock helped Operation Food Search and ArtEffect supported CAM’s youth programs. I’m very thankful though, because this year’s event hung a little in the balance—until Zoë Scharf stepped up to see it through. She did an amazing job.

I’m very proud to say that Tremendousness contributed three works to the cause.

At left, Bill Keaggy‘s “To Condense a Mockingbird” is a zoetrope that features a shrinking, flying bird inked on pages of a 1963 Reader’s Digest condensed version of To Kill A Mockingbird. The structure itself was made using a bamboo steamer, a cake pan, and a lazy Susan, in addition to other condensed book covers and copper wire. It really works.

Center, Chris Roettger‘s “North Star” used pages from Every Man’s Guide to England, from 1912. The work centers around the message “Oh Darling, Let’s Be Adventurers,” which is constructed on a constellation map of the northern hemisphere. Mountains were made from book pages and the word “Adventurers” was embroidered onto the map.

Finally, my work, “Academy Songbirds,” is a birdhouse built out of an 1896 edition of The Academy Songbook. The roof is made from pinecone scales and the interior features two songbirds—one a cardinal of course—that are backlit with white LED lights. They in turn are backed by the sheet music for “Sweet Birds Are Singing.”

All in all it was a beautiful night at the library.

Thanks to Dan Mirth for contributing these photos.