Engineering, art and empathy collided recently in the lobby of St. Tammany Health System’s Covington hospital, with the result being a 6-foot 2-inch butterfly sculpture made entirely out of nonperishable canned goods -- and all for a good cause.
The effort was headed up by the nonprofit St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, which recruited local architect fl+WB to lend its expertise to the project. Their four-person team designed and built their canned-goods butterfly over several hours Thursday (July 15), using more than 1,550 cans purchased with the financial backing of Winn-Dixie and fl+WB.
In addition to providing some added visual interest to the hospital’s lobby, the sculpture serves as a colorful mascot for a food drive the foundation is holding among STHS employees. The canned-goods butterfly will be on display for the length of the food drive, through July 30.
Additionally, Winn-Dixie is hosting a public food drive in support of the STHS effort through this Friday (July 23).
All cans donated, including those making up the butterfly and the two flowers over which it hovers, will be donated to Northshore Food Bank and the Therapeutic Food Pantry at the newly opened St. Tammany Cancer Center, a campus of Ochsner Medical Center, at Interstate 12 and Highway 21 in Covington.
See images of the STHS canned-goods construction team at work below.