Bike Church
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Bike Church is a walk-in metal sculpture made from bike parts that is large enough to be seen from surrounding streets and the neighborhood. The building features traditional, religious architecture, but is multi-cultural and non-denominational. Steel framing provides the structural support for the sculpture, and concrete footings secure it to the ground. Hundreds of bike frames, wheels, and rims are welded to the frame and fill the empty space between the steel beams and provide additional support. Instead of filling walls with jumbled bike parts, the bike parts are arranged into symmetrical geometric forms, alluding to the symmetry inherent to religious buildings. All bike components are sandblasted and painted pure white. The roof, made predominantly of partially filled-in rims, provides shade within the sculpture.
When visitors walk into Bike Church, they find themselves in a high-ceilinged building that contrasts with the flat land and one-storied buildings in the surrounding area. Stained glass windows made of metal and colored acrylic cast colors onto the white structure during the day. At night, solar lights within the building light the area and cast color onto the ground. Chimes made from bike parts hang within Bike Church, like organ pipes in a church. The chimes give the building an interactive twist, as visitors can play the chimes and fill the surrounding area with sound. A shrine area serves as a memorial for fallen local cyclists. The shrine allows visitors to contribute to the sculpture, as they can place pictures or other mementos at the memorial.
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Teaching Artists: Blessing Hancock, Joe O'Connell
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Assistant: Elliot Hart
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Volunteers: Jonathan Katz, Kip Perkins
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Student Artists: Serena D'Ippolito, Leah Edwards, Johnny Galvez, Martin Gonzalez, Sheila Leftwich, Elizabeth Raskob, Rian Romero, Mosade Virgil
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download QuickTime movie
view movie on YouTube
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Articles/News Stories about the Bike Church:
Arizona Daily Star, 8-17-09 TucsonCitizen.com, 7-22-09 TucsonCitizen.com, 8-16-09 KOLD News 13, 8-17-09 TucsonWeekly.com, 8-12-09 |