Anyone visiting St. Louis city has more than likely seen a dilapidated building, or ten. Many of these structures were once glorious architectural masterpieces of their day, but now they stand in ruin. My colleagues and I were not only frustrated by this issue, but also intrigued by the idea of bringing it to light through screen prints.
Thus began the Weeping Architecture project.
The Vess bottle in St. Louis City’s Bottle District
The purpose of this post is to tell the story of three creatives, myself included, who used the art and design to bring some much needed attention to the crumbling buildings of St. Louis city. I’ll describe all the interesting bits, like:
- The process used to create screen prints
- The subject matter used in the screen prints
- The design of the screen prints
With all this info, I’m certain you’ll be inspired to create your own activism artwork for whichever cause is closest to your heart.
SCREEN PRINTS: THE RIGHT MEDIUM
Considering the gritty, hand-crafted nature of the decaying architecture in St. Louis city, our team of designers selected screen prints as the medium for this project. The roughly-textured surface of the cotton-rag paper and the imperfect nature of the inks were a perfect representation of what we saw in the materials of these decaying buildings.
Our team knew it had a winner.
We found a great shop on Cherokee Street called All Along Press. The owners were great teachers. Simply, our time there was an inspirational experience.
Our design team hard at work inside the studio
SUBJECT MATTER USED IN THE SCREEN PRINTS
With the proper medium selected, our team moved forward with the design phase. It may come as little surprise to some, but St. Louis city is rife with decaying structures.
But which buildings were the most worthy?
THE BUILDINGS
Determining the best sites to photograph was no simple task. Our team had to review satellite imagery, and adventure out on scouting trips to narrow down the search. The highest concentrations of decay were found in:
- Downtown St. Louis
- East St. Louis
- Midtown St. Louis
- North City
With the selection process finalized, our team settled on these key buildings:
- The giant Vess bottle in the Bottle District
- The Spivey Building
- The Majestic Theatre
- The Southern Cross Masonic Lodge
Facade of the Majestic Theatre in East St. Louis
THE MESSAGING
Our team knew it needed to communicate the severity of the issue while not being over emotional. To solve this problem, we developed three simple, humorous statements that were site-specific.
- Please, Have Some Pity. Help Save St. Louis City.
- Pop Open Some Hope, and Help Rescue the Bottle District. It Still Has A Drop Left.
- East Saint Louis, if We Don’t Use It, We Will Lose It.
THE FINAL SCREEN PRINTS
As our team’s Art Director, I took to sketching concept for these three unique, two-color screen prints. Since the visual styling was moving in a gritty direction, I incorporated elements that relayed that mood. For color selection, I mindfully chose two bright colors, magenta and a purple-blue hue. These would aid in catching the viewer’s eye.
Some other key design elements are:
- A grunge-style typography
- Warning tape
- Distressed images of the decaying buildings
- Cotton-rag paper with torn edges
The final three screen prints
Lastly, our team didn’t stop with the screen prints. We also used some of the photography to create branded desktop wallpapers. View them below.
Desktop wallpaper sample
Desktop wallpaper sample
With all of the special causes in St. Louis city, I’m a firm believer that art and design are meant for more than just commercial purposes. I suggest that more designers put themselves out there in order to make a real impact. It’s not like our team was compensated for our creative work.
We simply saw a problem in the community and felt compelled to create a solution.
Sources:
http://www.builtstlouis.net/arch.html
http://stlouispatina.com/