The Pillars Exhibit Design: CAYC Annual Meeting
An immersive art installation ft. a live snake, luxury fashion, and a row home made of books— created by Older & Wiser Co. for the Cultural Alliance of York County’s 2022 Annual Meeting.
Each year, the Cultural Alliance of York County gathers the region’s arts ecosystem from donors and grantees to local creatives and cultural workers for their Annual Meeting.
As the largest united arts fund in York County, the Cultural Alliance exists to support, fund, and uplift local artists and organizations through grants, strategic partnerships, and community investment. Their Annual Meeting isn’t just a recap — it’s a chance to reflect on the role of the arts in public life, and to spotlight those doing the work of building culture every day.
For the 2022 gathering, hosted at the BOND historic industrial space, Older & Wiser Co. was commissioned to design a theme and installation that would make a statement as soon as people walked through the door.
We landed on “Pillars”, a theme not only inspired by their logo refresh, but also the idea that CAYC exists to be long term, structural supports of the local arts, and that artists are the supporters of our culture as we know it.
For a project this technical, I teamed up with *my sensei, Tom Ryan of Boom Creative & Imagine to create an exhibit that would quite literally elevate three local grant recipients whose work embodies the CAYC mission.
The Artists
Each pillar highlighted one artist’s creative practice, work, and identity:
The Author: A row home book stack hybrid with a tiny glowing window nestled inside
The Snake Charmer (jk jk) Critter Keeper: An elegant display case housing a real-life snake
The Fashion Designer: A mannequin clothed in custom-designed all leather outerwear, paired with a minimalist purse
The Pillars
We wanted the emphasis to be on the artists’ work, not our own.
Each base was custom carved, assembled, and painted by hand — built in the bowels of a factory basement (the only space big enough to accommodate the scale and detail of the build) with wood and foam.
The design was meant to echo classical architecture, referencing stability, care, and craft, but stripped of opulence. This was support as structure, not spectacle.
Each pedestal held space for:
A small placard introducing the artist and their work
Integrated lighting to guide focus
A subtle visual language of reverence, without feeling untouchable (trust me people were putting their drinks on these bad boys *the audacity)
The Impact
This project was one of the most well received works to date, and it was my last major project I got to work on with Tom before he got wisked away to his international design job ;’)
The hours spent in that COLD basement, learning new skills, laughing and sharing stories, and wishing there was a faster way to build things (but alas there is not) will forever be one of my favorite seasons.
I felt like a true designer because someone else got down in the trenches and let me stand on their shoulders (thanks Tom)
This was a job done right. A process I am forever proud of. <3
This is Tom. Look how great he is, don’t you want to be friends?
Location: Cultural Alliance Annual Meeting – December 2022
Produced by: Older & Wiser Co. & Boom Creative
Featuring: Three grant-supported artists from York County
Installation: Custom-built sculptural pillars, hand-fabricated and designed for site-specific storytelling
