VINTON–“Canstruction” is an internationally-based event, established in 1992, which brings together teams to design and build sculptures out of canned foods, which are then donated to the hungry. Last year there were over 103 competitions throughout the world.
Three students from William Byrd High School who are also students at the Burton Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT) participated in the “Canstruction” project at the Taubman Museum of Art on October 3 and 4.
Students from Roanoke County’s Burton Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT) participated in the “Canstruction” Project at the Taubman Museum of Art on October 3 and 4. Sculptures were built from canned foods which will be donated to the Feeding America Southwest food bank. Those from BCAT who took part were (left to right) Emily Krackow from WBHS, Daniel Webb from WBHS, Thomas Kidd from Cave Spring, BCAT Visual Arts teacher Pat Carr, Jordan Criss from Hidden Valley, Hope Woody from WBHS, Lisa Crawford from Cave Spring, and BCAT teacher Natalie Strum.
Hope Woody, a senior at WBHS and in the Center for Visual Arts and Museum Studies IV class at BCAT, was a member of the design and construction team. Emily Krackow and Daniel Webb, sophomores at William Byrd and at the BCAT Center for Engineering helped the design team to ensure the structural integrity of the sculpture and to do the math for the project—how many cans were needed and of what size. They also took part in the construction of the sculpture.
The project was introduced to the Roanoke Valley by Lora Katz, architect with Gilliam Katz Architecture + Design. Katz took part in a Canstruction Project at the National Building Museum when she lived in Washington, D.C.
Nine teams with a total of about 87 participants from AECOM, Balzer and Associates, Clark Nexsen, Hill Studio, Hollins University, Member One Credit Union, SFCS, Spectrum Design, and the Roanoke County Schools through BCAT, built sculptures for the Roanoke event, which benefits the Feeding America Southwest food bank.
“With over 26,000 cans, this is one of the largest food drives for Feeding America,” said Walker Nelms, a member of the Canstruction committee representing Feeding America Southwest.
Last year, the food bank was able to distribute over 17.5 million pounds of food and related products worth over $24 million throughout the region.
According to their website, “It is difficult for many of us to believe, accept, or admit that hungry people exist in today’s society, in our hometowns, and even in our neighborhoods. But hunger studies continue to document that need. The USDA estimates that 50 million Americans are food insecure.”
“This project will have a huge impact on Feeding America Southwest,” said Katz. “It brings together art and community and charitable giving.”
About fifteen students from the Roanoke County home schools of William Byrd, Glenvar, Hidden Valley, Cave Spring, and Northside High Schools formed the BCAT team. Teachers Natalie Strum and Pat Carr from the Visual Arts program supervised the project.
Their sculpture, entitled “Feeding Magritte,” won the “Best Use of Labels” award and also second place in the People’s Choice competition.
The BCAT project based on the surrealistic painting “Son of Man” by Rene Magritte, won the “Best Use of Labels” award and came in second in the voting for the People’s Choice Award. Their sculpture used 4,200 cans.
Students in the BCAT Visual Arts program and their teachers came up with the design idea at the end of the last school year. They wanted to include a reference to art and to food and selected a painting called “Son of Man” by surrealist Rene Magritte as the inspiration for their sculpture.
BCAT visual arts teacher Natalie Strum describes the sculpture as a“homage to Feeding America Southwest Virginia and to the famous work of art.”
“This was a really smart project which demonstrates a knowledge of modern art,” said the judges in presenting the award.
The BCAT students created a preliminary rendering of the painting as the design process began.
Close to 27,000 cans were used in constructing all the sculptures. The smallest project used 960 cans; the largest sculpture 5,707. The “Feeding Magritte” sculpture required 4,200.
There are internationally accepted rules for the competition. Teams must “engineer, design, and build their sculptures on a pad ten feet square. The cans may not be defaced during construction. No glue may be used. Participants are allowed to tape across the tops of the cans with double sided tape or fasten them with Velcro top and bottom, but not across the labels.
One of the BCAT students, Thomas Kidd, noted that the project evolved through several stages.
Initially the group planned to build a much larger sculpture that included most of the human figure in the painting, but that would have involved over 10,000 cans in the construction, and more than the allotted time period. The bowler hat in the original painting had to be abandoned, as were suggestions for a bite out of the apple and a worm emerging from the apple (too complex).
Preliminary drawings were made of the sculpture last spring and continued to evolve over the summer.
“Canstruction” construction began at noon on October 3, with twelve hours and ten square feet allotted for the project. Megan Ward (in white shirt) of Glenvar High School and BCAT participated in the Canstruction construction project.
The engineering students determined that the original plan for the apple needed to be scaled down. The adults involved asked that the sculpture be smaller so as not to involve the liability issues of climbing tall ladders during construction.
Students and teachers had to visit Kroger more than once to “source” for appropriate sizes of cans and the labels which were the best colors for the sculpture. A trial and error process determined which would work best to complete the design.
For “Feeding Magritte,” students settled on Bush’s Black beans with blue and black labels and Kroger Lite Tuna with green labels. There were also a few cans of mushrooms with white labels for highlights and baked beans for the rust-colored stem, along with red cans for the tie. There were large and small cans of tuna with green labels to choose from, but the smaller cans would allow for the angle the sculptors needed.
Once school got underway this fall, the BCAT team had only four days to get the specifics of the design settled so the cans of food could be ordered.
Teams placed their orders with Kroger, who filled the orders, repackaged and transported them to the Museum. After the exhibit closes the company will transport them to Feeding America—all a huge undertaking.
Kroger offered the cans to the other teams at a reduced cost and donated all of the cans for the Roanoke County School’s student team from BCAT.
Construction began at noon on October 3 with a twelve hour time limit. The BCAT team finished their work around 8:00 p.m. Another team worked until 11:53 with only seven minutes to spare.
Sculptures were revealed to the public at 5:30 on October 4 with the awards ceremony following.
Judges chose winners in several categories including Best Use of Labels, Best Meal, Juror’s Favorite, Structural Ingenuity, People’s Choice, and Honorable Mention.
The public was allowed to vote for the People’s Choice award with cans of food or by purchasing voting tickets.
The Visual Arts students who participated are all seniors in the BCAT program. This project meets one of the requirements of their program. As seniors they must do an “installation” art project onsite that transforms a specific space. Additionally, Roanoke County Schools have placed an emphasis this year on “project based learning,” where students collaborate to “learn by doing.” This effort meets that goal.
Carr says that she and Strum work with the BCAT art students for half a day every other day. On alternate days they are at their home schools, as are the engineering students.
The Canstruction Exhibit will remain on display at the Taubman through October 12 during regular museum hours. The sculptures will then be disassembled and the food distributed through Feeding America.
Sponsors for the event include the City of Roanoke and the Taubman Museum of Art, in addition to Kroger, Gilliam Katz Architecture + Design, and Feeding America Southwest Virginia.