Archive for May 2010

May 2010

McCarthy “Coolest Construction Company Website”

Our friend Phil Wiseman at McCarthy Construction let us know that this nice article named our site for his company the “Coolest Construction Company Website”. That’s especially sweet as this site was built on our own TOKY-authored Content Management System.

“The construction industry takes the cake for lamest websites. But the St. Louis-based McCarthy Construction bucks the trend … the site has a very informative blog and live Web cams at each of the company’s project sites. For some reason I want to buy steel-toed work boots when I visit the site.”

Thanks, Phil!

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May 2010

John Foster in the New York Times

Friday’s New York Times featured an article starring our man John Foster and his efforts to preserve the works of outsider artist Ralph Lanning. Let’ s let the great gray lady tell part of the the story:

“Lanning died in December at 93, and his family scheduled an artwork auction on the lawns. Mr. Foster persuaded the Kohler Foundation in Wisconsin, which finances outsider art preservation, to buy the sculptures as gifts for the university’s campus. He represented Kohler at the sale on April 9, paying more than $1,000 for unwieldy pieces. “I held my card up and never put it down,” he said.”

Read the full article here.

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May 2010

Communication Arts Web Pick of the Day for May 20th

Today’s (5.20.2010) Communication Arts Web Pick includes a site we recently launched for Metro Transit. By sharing the stories of seven Metro users, this site was part of a successful campaign to convince St. Louis County voters to support a proposition calling for a sales tax increase to restore lost transit service and to expand light rail and bus service.

View the Webpick here or Learn more about the site from a previous entry.

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May 2010

Museums and Multitouch

The folks from Gestureworks recently featured us in their Gestureworks Developer Showcase.

Some of the gang went to Denver a while back for the 2010 Museums and the Web conference. From what I hear, our booth was the place to be! Maybe folks were hanging around the TOKY booth for all the stimulating conversation. Maybe it was because we were handing out free iPads. I’d like to think at least part of the attention was due to the little interactive multitouch portfolio we put together.

Imagine lanyard-clad conference goers decked out in TOKY trinkets, flipping, flicking, pinching and zooming through content. I only hope the complimentary beverages did not impede the use of both limbs, because this experience was multitouch.

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May 2010

When Our Building Was The Best Skateboard Venue in Town…

TOKY’s building in Midtown Alley has gone through a lot of changes since its construction in 1913,  evolving from one of the first Ford dealerships west of the Mississippi. In the 90s the place was known far and wide as the home of Ramp Riders, the best indoor skateboarding club in the city.

Kirsten found a great article written by someone who lived through that time, filled with great photos and news clips. The shot above is where much of the TOKY print team now sit!

http://oneguysstl.blogspot.com/2010/02/ramp-riders-part-1-of-at-least-60.html

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May 2010

Interview with the St. Louis Egotist

St. Louis now has its own Egotist: thestlouisegotist.com. The Egotist is an online creative hub focused on the local creative community, and St. Louis is one of a handful of cities to have one. We’re not sure who runs or manages this site, and we’re not sure we care — but we do know that we think its yet another great asset for this town.

For the launch, they asked if they could feature TOKY as the first studio profile. Check out the link below for Eric’s responses to the few interview questions. It may help understand how we do things around here:

“TOKY is devoted to the arts. We’ll do everything we can to spread the word about the fantastic scene here. We’ll do whatever we can to build attendance, bring in the best artists and performers, and keep the money coming in to make it all happen. Then we’re not competing with just Des Moines for talent and reputation, but Santa Fe and Austin and New Orleans and Portland and San Francisco and Chicago and New York.”

Read the full interview here

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May 2010

Selected for HOW Magazine’s “Top 10 Posters”

The “Ghosts of Versailles” poster we created for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis has been selected for HOW Magazine’s “Top 10 Posters”.  Judge Steve Hartman said “the multiple concepts are so simply presented in this poster … it’s amazing.” Thanks, Steve!

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May 2010

Sister Carol Keehan, Michael Sherraden in TIME Magazine

Congratulations to two important St. Louisans for their inclusion in this year’s TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Sister Carol Keehan is the leader of the St. Louis-based Catholic Health Association, a longtime TOKY client. Her courageous advocacy on behalf of sometimes unpopular human rights issues has made her a go-to resource for the Obama administration. “Her leadership of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) has been defined by advocacy for the poor and an unwavering respect for human dignity…. She fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.”

Sister Carol Keehan’s TIME Profile

Brown School’s Michael Sherraden, PhD, is the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, and is also the founder and director of the Brown School’s Center for Social Development. The magazine cites Sherraden’s work on The Global Assets Project, part of his pioneering work on asset building for low-income individuals and families. To quote, “Sherraden, 61, a professor of social development at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., is working to fulfill an ambitious vision: helping poor families accumulate sufficient funds to ride out hard times, buy the crop insurance that protects against drought and blight, insure homes so they can have not only a place to live but also the municipal services that come with a fixed address. He seeks a world in which success is a function of determination and merit, not privilege or political favor.”

Dr. Sherraden’s TIME Profile

Then there are these guys, who many of us TOKY folk *wish* were clients!

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May 2010

Three Regional ADDYs

TOKY has taken home three Regional ADDYs in the annual juried competition. “Carrole’s Story”, the animated video about MS we did for Dr. Barry Singer, took a Gold ADDY. A pair of projects we did for cultural institutions in St. Louis took home Silvers: the “Stranger Than Fiction” gala invitation for the St. Louis Public Library Foundation, and the photography for ”Staging Old Masters”, done for the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. On to the Nationals!
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