Bike Stand Sculptures

Through creation of bike-rack sculptures, we bring artwork to the street that is inviting, stirs the imagination and enables residents to take ownership of their communities. In addition to bike racks, these works of art can also serve as tree guards and plant holders. Our plan is that each year one or more areas of the city will engage local artists in a creative makeover that brings the spirit of the businesses and the character of the neighborhood to its sidewalks.

The community design process we have conceived addresses the creation of bike-rack sculptures in a way that is both unified and reflective of Toronto’s multicultural diversity. Each community, such as Little Italy, China Town or the Music District on Queen Street West, will have designs that reflect the spirit of that particular community, yet all of the sculptures will conform to the functional, structural, size and safety conditions laid out by the city’s guidelines, creating a harmonized style throughout the city.

Pictured above are bike-rack sculptures that were created from drawings done by members of the art group at the Parkdale Activity Recreation Center (PARC), a drop-in for psychiatric survivors and street people. The fabrication was done at The Meeting Place (St. Christopher House), a drop-in centre at the corner of Bathurst and Queen Streets. These bike-rack sculptures were developed in consultation with the City’s Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure of the Transportation Branch.

For the past four years we received financial support for the construction of bike-rack sculptures from the Toronto Arts Council, the Toronto Economic Development Committee, the Parkdale Business Improvement Area (BIA), the Parkdale Liberty Economic Development Corporation, the Yonge Lawrence Village BIA, PARC, the Meeting Place (St. Christopher House) and the Royal Ontario Museum.

Artistic Concept

If one studies the times and places in the world where people’s creative energies have been at their best, one notices that it is when different cultures, social strata and professions fluently mixed to a greater extent than they did at other times and places. As such, if a city wishes to maximize its potential, it stands to reason that the public places that people regularly frequent should be alive with the diverse expression from all points of view and walks of life.

There is also reason to believe that much of the mental disease in the society and the attraction to drugs or compulsion toward drug use is due to people’s inability to communicate their needs and provide creative input to the community.

The bike-rack/tree-guard sculptures address both of these concerns. Artists from all sectors of the society will contribute designs on an individual and collaborative basis. The design needs of this project will multi-task and be diverse in scope, providing great opportunities and challenges to all sectors of the arts community, including: technical, financial, community connection, artistic integrity, innovation and if they are working with designs from younger artists.

Presently, a large portion of the design and fabrication work is being completed by street populations from The Meeting Place and the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre. And we are presently making arrangements with Seaton House to establish a workshop at their location. This has given the individuals who make use of these facilities the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of their neighbourhoods and the city as a whole, and subsequently their moral has significantly improved as a result of their contributions.

Art allows people to move beyond social, psychological, philosophical and scientific limitations. The more diverse the social strata that engages in creating artwork, the more we are able to expand our horizons. Art is a vehicle that allows people to gently break out of the box and explore other perspectives. Art not only assists in improving social harmony, but also expands innovation in industry, business and science.

Artistic Sourcing  - Community Participation

So far, with very few exceptions, the designs have come from the psychiatric survivor community, street populations and students. This work will be shown to the student populations and arts communities in Toronto so they can get involved in the project.

At PARC, there is a workshop once a week on bike-rack and tree-guard design. The workshop is a place where artists share ideas and work on joint projects.

The project is not about a few artists getting their name into the limelight, but about helping many others to engage in the creative process.

Functionality

These bike-rack sculptures are far more theft-proof than the existing post and ring system. In addition, when bicycles are locked to them, they will not twist sideways as easily, reducing impediments for pedestrians.

Tree Guards and Plant Holders

Dante Larcade, owner of the Roseland Gallery and past president of the Queen Street West BIA, suggested that combining trees and plants with bike-racks would be a more efficient use of space. Trees have huge environmental benefits along with the use of bicycles. Combining the two wherever possible would be a statement for both bicycling and the environment.

To date, the 49 bike racks produced. William Thorsell, CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum said there should be thousands of these bike-rack sculptures in Toronto. Toronto is no arranging to expand the placement of artistic bike stands throughout the City

Sculptures at the Royal Ontario Museum

Proposal

Our project solicits artwork from schools, universities, colleges and the arts community. Grade 5 students at a local school did many of the designs below. Round, 6” stainless plagues, indicating the name of the artist and the donor are in the ground in front of the Yonge Lawrence Village bike stands [engraved lettering].

Resale – Renewal

Some communities may auction off the artwork to local residents so that there can be a revitalization where appropriate and a continued development of the art form. The money raised in an auction could fund new street furniture and provide revenue to the designing artist.

Tourism

This type of diverse, community participation in the design of street furniture will be a first anywhere in North America. It will increase Toronto’s ability to attract international bike racing, community art conferences and environmental events.

Public Education About The Arts

Long-term arts-based community projects will significantly develop the level of art appreciation and understanding in the city and in all communities. Like the Moose project, the bike-rack and tree-guard sculptures will be the talk of the town. Because new artwork can be added every year, the discussion and understanding of the role of art will continually develop.

Corporate Participation

Retailers will be able to reflect and extend the spirit of their enterprise onto the sidewalk.

The bike-rack was inspired by an antique furniture business in Parkdale.

Competitions in the schools to design creative sculptures for businesses will assist in the development of good designers and architects, and stimulate Toronto’s design businesses. It will also link the community to future business development in Toronto.

Art touches almost everything we do: the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the look of a restaurant meal, the bed we sleep in. Art combined with functionality is evident in every product. Our bike-rack sculpture project would provide students the opportunity to marry creativity with practicality.

Worthwhile Projects

This sculpture supports blood donation.

Themes

Different retail and industry areas may choose a theme. For example, the Yorkville area could use their bike racks and tree guards to promote the movie industry.

Business Improvement

When placed on City property, the sculptures should evoke and the spirit of all sectors of the community.

Though the artwork, businesses and institutions can embellish the spirit of their organizations in imaginative ways. Yes, it will take more work than just replicating their logo, but through the process of creating the artwork, possibly with other community members, the business or institution will expand what they perceive their market to be. This process will give them ideas for new products, and/or on updating existing ones. Through the process of creating the sculptures, businesses will have the means to reach out and connect with their communities.

Funding Opportunities

The “Moose In The City” project generated a significant amount of money for various charities, as well as paid artists for their creations and the cost for their materials. Following in the footsteps of this very successful project, the creation of the bike-rack/tree-guard sculptures should be similarly successful.

Corporate giants such as pharmaceutical companies may be willing to make donations to hospitals for the opportunity of having their company name engraved on a donor plaque similar to the ones placed in the sidewalk concrete by the Yonge Lawrence Village BIA. They may also be willing to purchase one or more bike-rack sculptures for placement their offices and factories. Similarly, companies known for their support of athletic activities may fund bike-rack sculptures with sports-related themes that are laced in front of the Rogers and the Air Canada Centres, as well as community sports facilities.

Companies like Microsoft will be encouraged to support sculptures that can be placed in front of libraries and schools. McDonald’s, Tim Horton’s, Second Cup, and many other chains with corporate goals that can be met with this style of community project will also be potentially interested. Entertainment companies and individual celebrities could fund bike racks and tree guards at many of the entertainment sites in the city.

Selection Process

Selection teams will be made up of city officials, a local artist, a member of the business community and someone connected to the manufacture of the sculptures. Selection will be based on: safety, functionality, artistic merit, promotional value, cost, structural strength, maintenance needs, durability-longevity, manufacturing and installation constraints.

Prior to the final selection, a short list will be created. Some members of the selection team along with some of the teachers in training will meet with artists. Some sculptures may require minor changes in functionality and structural integrity.

After meeting with the artists, a final selection of sculptures will be made. These sculptures will then be categorized with regard to theme (i.e. music, sports, education, etc.) and posted on our web site. Businesses willing to purchase sculptures for the purpose of placing them in front of their locations will have the option of making bids on the sculptures. Artists would be able to post a price, and an estimate will be made of the manufacturing cost of the sculpture. Corporate sponsors will subsidize the cost of the sculptures.

Special competitions could be set up for sculptures slated for prominent places like the waterfront, hospitals, City Hall, Provincial Legislature, CN Tower, Rogers Center and the Air Canada Center. Sculptures in strategic places could tie in with professional or international amateur sports events, allowing advertising and promotional opportunities for sponsors.

Corporations like the Bay, Sears, Tim Horton’s, etc., may wish to set up their own competitions around particular themes and describe what they would like their sculptures to look like. They could then place this description and any other design requirements on the website, along with what they are willing to pay for design and manufacturing expense. On private property, businesses will not be bound by size limitations.

Some companies may want sculptures for openings and events. They can use the web site for this purpose and give notice to all of the artists who have submitted designs in the past.

Cost Estimates per Bike-Rack Sculpture

Design Award                         250.00

AutoCAD and Modifications 150.00

Steel and Cutting 650.00

Welding and Grinding 300.00

Galvanization and Colourization 130.00

Transportation 40.00

Sub-total without Inlays 1,520.00

Sub-total with Inlays 1,520.00 + $40 to 100 per Inlay

6” stainless plaque                                                             200

Management Costs per Sculpture 256.00 *

Grand Total without inlays $1,976.00 plus taxes

Proposal for musical sculptures

Character of sculptures:

Type 1: Sculptures will be playable like the musical tree below.  The wheels ring like bells. The tree, presently on Yonge St. north of Lawrence, could be designed so that the wheels/bells are toned to a western musical scale or to an eastern tonality.

Copyright ©2007 Phil Sarazen

Type 2:

Sculptures built with electronic pads similar to electronic drums made by Yamaha, several sculptures have beens designed four years ago.See below.

These sculprures could be solar powered similar to the parking meters, a battery could be charged and a keyed swich could activate these sculptures. During special times, eg. Jazz festivals etc. the entire street would be alive with music.

Type 3: Other sculptures could be visual as the three below installed in Parkdale and Yonge and Lawrwnce:

Ontario Collage of Art and Toronto School of Art are in this area and may be interested in participating in design work. I have designed 20  plus sculptures with a musical design that could be modified or used to simulate entirely new concepts. Royal Conservatory ofr Music could be ewmpoyed to make sure the sculptures conform to the best musicality.

Queen St., west of City Hall is a very important tourist sector in Toronto and could be worked in well with a bicycle promotion.

Beautify the Waterfront

Water – Health – Green

Bike stand sculptures will beautify the waterfront, highlight artwork from our multicultural community, support a healthy lifestyle, support the environment and involve youth in our community.

The project involves building bicycle stands: The theme for the bicycle stands will be water, health, green. We are offering two styles of bicycle stands.

The first, typical of the bike stands we placed at the ROM and designs we developed for the waterfront.

Over the years we have developed many aquatic designs

Copywright Phil Sarazen  2005

So that the creative process is shared along this importanrt area of the City, we will involve students in schools, instructing them in the design process. Sculptures from the students will be placed along the waterfront and on private property. Funding for these sculptures come from individuals, businesses, builders, apartment owners and condo associations. Plaques will show artist, donor and, if the donor wishes, the sculpture could be a tribute to a person or wish…

The second style of bicycle stand will be multiple stands for private property.

Copywright © Phil Sarazen

The single post structure without inlays is $2000. Bike stands that supporty  multiple bicycles start at $3000.

Phil Sarazen 416 858-1189