Last week, AIGA St. Louis celebrated their 20th Anniversary as a St. Louis Chapter of the renowned National organization and held their Annual Meeting. In a reception hosted by Ferguson-Katzman studios, over 150 designers, photographers, artists and design professionals attended the event. In addition to honoring the 2009 AIGA St. Louis Fellow, the profession was honored by giving everyone an original piece of art created by local artists specifically for this event.
Cherie Fister is the 2009 St. Louis AIGA Fellow. Additionally, Buck Smith, Sarah Birdsall and John Heaney we designated as "Local Legends" and each spoke while showing an overview of their work.
I was impressed by the sheer scale of this event in several ways. I can't ever remember seeing so many St. Louis design luminaries in one place at the same time. If you name the best designers in town over the last 20+ years, those who couldn't make it could easily be counted on one hand.
In addition to the veterans, there was a huge contingency of younger designers and creatives . . . a group often very difficult to get to an event like this. The simple numbers of the event were eclipsed by what I thought to be a pride and incredibly powerful and positive emotional force. To look at the work, generally focused on St. Louis, and beautifully created art, all the attendees could feel a sense of pride and optimism about St. Louis Design.
This is the sort of event that should have been celebrated by the entire St. Louis creative, advertising and marketing community. I understand that this was an AIGA event, their annual meeting and celbration of their first 20 years of existence. I would have liked to have seen it more like a typical birthday party, where you invite all your firends . . . no matter what organization they happen to belong to.
I couldn't help but notice there were likely less than 10 Ad Club members at the event (or AMA, or GIMA, or ASMP or any one of several other creative organizations). I believe that anyone interested enough to attend would have been welcomed and felt very "at home". Even the email blasts highlighted "Free and Open to the Public".
I continue to hope that in the very near future, the leaders of the various local organizations/associations find a way to get together and get their groups working together and playing together. There is strength in numbers and without doubt mutually enhanced value.
FK Studios were kind enough to provide the above images. If you'd like to see over 100 additional photographs from the event . . . go here! Regrettably, I don't know who shot these additional images, because I don't know her name. She did a terrific job. If anyone would like to add a comment with appropriate attribution, I'd appreciate it.