Local jurors have announced the winners of the Roanoke Valley’s first “Canstruction” competition.
Canstruction involves nine local teams who built giant structures made out of more than 27,000 cans of food.
The exhibit remains on display at the Taubman Museum of Art through Oct. 12. Afterward, the cans will be donated to Feeding America Southwest Virginia to benefit hungry families, becoming the food bank’s second largest food drive.
The award categories and winners are:
- Structural design: “Design Can” (Steve Jobs) by AECOM
- Best meal: “Lighthouse” by Spectrum Design
- Best use of labels: “Feeding Margritte” by Burton Center for Arts and Technology
- Honorable mention: “Rubik’s Uncubed!” by Member One Credit Union
- Juror’s favorite: “Design Can” by AECOM
- People’s choice award: “The A’maize’ing Roanoke Star” by SCFS.
Other teams participating were from: Balzer & Associates Hollins University, Clark Nexsen and Hill Studio.
“All nine teams worked extremely hard to bring Canstruction to the Roanoke Valley for the first time and we’re thrilled with the quality and creativity of their work,” said Lora Katz with Gilliam Katz Architecture + Design and chair of the event. “There’s plenty of time to visit the Taubman and see these outstanding sculptures.”
We are delighted with the show of support, spirit of community and creativity all in the name of a good cause,” said Pamela Irvine, president and CEO of Feeding America Southwest Virginia. “We’ve been seeking to get Canstruction to our region for many years, and the results – both in creativity and donations – are truly impressive. On behalf of the thousands of people who rely on us, we thank everyone involved and we look forward to an annual event that will help stock the shelves in time for a busy time of year.”
Each team spent considerable time, money and effort to design their sculptures, calculate can sizes and colors, raise the money to purchase the cans and a day to build the sculpture. Kroger, a lead sponsor, generously offered the canned food at a reduced cost for each team and sponsored all of the cans required for the student team from Roanoke County Schools’ Burton Center for Arts & Technology.
Judging the competition were: Jack Davis, Reynolds Metals Professor and dean of the Virginia Tech School of Architecture; Nancy Gray, president of Hollins University; Charlene Graves, Roanoke City Arts Commission member; Virginia Del. Onzlee Ware; and James Zeisler, program head of Virginia Western Community College’s Culinary Arts School and Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey.
To learn more about Canstruction, please visit www.faswva.org or Facebook.
