Type Hike: ARCH

poster v.1

Last friday was the opening for a truly remarkable exhibit, Type Hike ARCH, and exhibit of 63 posters made to commemorate the opening of the new Arch grounds surrounding Eero Saarinen’s remarkable 1963 structure. If you don’t live in St. Louis, it might be hard to fully appreciate the many ways we natives have seen the arch corrupted over the years. My favorites would definitely be the Decent Boys standing on the Arch, and of course, Becky Queen of Carpet. These ads are so good, they deserve keys to the city…

But after seeing so many cliche interpretations of Arch, it was such a joy to see 63 brilliant new interpretations by so many smart designers at this exhibit. I loved so many of them. I was thrilled to see work by UMSL’s Scott Gericke and student Danielle Ridofi, as well as UMSL Alums, Marco Cheatham, Ryan Doggendorf, and Matt Marchini, and many other friends and collaborators who make designing in St. Louis a joy. The opening was packed with so many smart designers it was really really fun to see everyone and catch up. I was honored to be invited to contribute, and felt like I had been invited to Santa’s house with all the nerves and anticipation. (I guess in this scenario, Santa is played by Jim Walker, and the North Pole is somewhere in Texas…) I ended up making two versions: I am showing both here. I did this because I was indecisive and over-excited, and possibly a little sugar-buzzed like a kid on Xmas Eve.

poster v.2

I spent entirely too much time working on these posters, and did end up with something I didn’t expect, feeling like I had truly gotten to something new. After I turned in my files, I was driving past the Arch with my 12 year old son, Dylan, and was shaking my fist at the arch for being so elusive (like the Mona Lisa, with less smile, more of a smile turned upside down if you know what I mean) when he turned to me and said, “Mom, I don’t know why you worked so hard on this poster. What you needed to do was take the arch, put a kitten hanging from the top, and write “Hang In There…””

he ended up with 247 likes…I would like to say it did not go to his head…

…Needless to say I was miffed (and proud) that he had so effortlessly come up with such a good and funny idea. I dared him to draw it, and he came up with this image, which Jim graciously posted on Instagram, to Dylan’s delight. It was a thrill to watch his mind work here, and he was pleased with the likes and comments he got on Insta.

Thanks so much to Jim and David Rygiol for hosting this show! It was great to see such lovely and thoughtful tributes created for the city I love and call home.