Thirteen teams of Milwaukee-area architecture, engineering and construction folks are taking part in this year's Canstruction event during which each designs and builds a sculpture made entirely of canned and non-perishable food to help raise awareness about hunger.
The sculptures are being assembled at Milwaukee Public Museum, where you can see them from Feb. 1 to 17 as part of the second annual Canstruction, organized by MPM, Women in Design, the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
Each structure must be fashioned from no fewer than 1,000 food items and should reflect this year’s theme, “WisCANsin.”
The public can vote for their favorite struccture as part of several awards the teams can win.
After the event is over, all of the food used in the structures will be donated to the Jewish Community Pantry, which has provided emergency food and community resources to Milwaukee residents in the Metcalfe Park and Amani neighborhoods on the city’s North Side for more than 50 years.
“Building on the enthusiasm and success of last year’s Canstruction debut at MPM, which resulted in 12 imaginative canned works of art, thousands of visitors and the donation of more than 33,000 food items, the Museum is thrilled to once again host this fun, inspiring event,” said Rebecca Ehlers, MPM’s Vice President of Marketing, Communication & Visitor Experience.
“We’ve seen firsthand throughout the past year the skill and hard work that goes into build projects, as we’ve begun construction on our Future Museum, and we’re excited to give the area’s best AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) firms the opportunity to connect with the community and each other in a lighthearted way, all for a good cause.”
The exhibit is covered by MPM’s daily admission, which will be discounted at $15 during the opening weekend of Canstruction, Feb. 1-2, as part of the Museum Days promotion.
The teams will be on-site on Saturday, Feb. 1 assembling their structures in the Steigleder Special Exhibit Gallery and the fully completed works will be on display from then on.
Admission to the museum is free on Thursday, Feb. 6 as part of the ongoing Kohl’s Thank You Thursday, which provides free admission to everyone the first Thursday of each month. That week (on Tuesday) is when I visit MPM for a Facebook Live focusing on one aspect of MPM. This coming week, we will visit Canstruction, so watch the OnMilwaukee Facebook account for that.
On this upcoming Kohl's Thank You Thursday, from 1 to 2 p.m., Canstruction awards will be presented and the public is invited.
“With 16 firms making up 13 teams, this year’s competition marks the most participants since Canstruction Milwaukee began more than 10 years ago,” said Ali Kopyt, co-founder of Women in Design and Managing Architect at KORB Architecture. “Year after year, I’m blown away by the creativity of the designs, but what I hear from so many firms is how much they value the team-building experience.
"Oftentimes, younger designers are taking the lead on the design of the structure, and it’s rewarding for the whole team to embrace the challenge and emerge from this process with new confidence, leadership skills and team collaboration, while also giving back."
The teams participating in this year's Canstruction event are AG Architecture, Bray Architects, Engberg Anderson and CG Schmidt, EUA and Gilbane, Findorff and Galbraith Carnahan Architects, GRAEF, HGA, JLA Architects, Kahler Slater, KORB Architecture, Mortenson Construction, VJS Construction Services, Zimmerman Architectural Studios and Boldt.
“As grocery bills have soared throughout the past year, we’ve witnessed more and more people in our community who are struggling to feed their families,” said Heidi Gould, Director of the Jewish Community Pantry.
“The support the Pantry receives from Canstruction is truly life-changing for so many. Last year’s donation helped us serve the Pantry community for nearly six months. And with even more teams participating this year, we anticipate that impact will be even greater."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
