JEFFERSON, Iowa, Oct. 4, 2006 – “Art on the Bike Trail” is the latest Greene County Arts Council project presented to the public to add a bit of whimsy to their days.

Nicole Friess-Schilling, arts council president, said, “This project in particular is a way to expose the public to art in a way that doesn’t involve their having to go to a gallery or a function,” said Nicole Friess-Schilling, arts council president. “It’s just there, art on the trail, an outdoor art gallery making art accessible.”

The art works are actually “bicycle sculptures” along the Raccoon Valley Bicycle Trail between Jefferson and Cooper. They were designed by five area artists and placed on the trail for the month of October, in hopes of eliciting a smile or a chuckle from passersby.

Project originator Kathy Hankel, Jefferson photographer and artist, thought the bikes would bring a few smiles. “The idea was to get people to ride to the end of the trail to see what else lay in wait, to bring them all the way to our beautiful town,” she said.

The first art bike on the trailhead at the Jefferson Depot is “Biker Betty Bug,” designed by Hankel. It is a kinetic critter with eyeglasses, earrings, wind chimes and wings. The whole assemblage twirls randomly in place. “She speeds the bikers on their way,” Hankel said of Biker Better. “She wishes them well.”

Project designer and co-coordinator Diane Foster said the bike trail art is a long-term installation. “This particular project will be in place on the trail for a month, and then the bikes will be used in a large bike sculpture,” she said.

According to Friess-Schilling, bike arches, wheels and sculptures grace other trailheads around Iowa, and they are designed as an added attraction for the bikers and walkers wending their way on the state’s trails. 

“The idea here is to eventually place a bike sculpture at our trailhead, using local welders to enhance as a whole the singular art bikes that are now along the trail,” she said.

Artist Kelly Cody, a Grand Junction native, designed “Little Girl” from what was the first bicycle she had as a child. She reformed it into a young girl with pigtails, sitting up, with a smile on her face. “Except for the pigtails, the sculpture is all from parts of the original bike,” Cody said. Cody’s sculpture is at the “Winkleman Switch” parking area about four miles south of Jefferson.

“E.T., Phone Home” is a family effort from Deb, Mike and 9-year-old Ian Carter of Coon Rapids. Their “Studio at Hidden Acres Ranch” houses the Carters’ stained glass business where they turn out everything from glass sun catchers to church windows, and now, bike art. “Ian thought a good use for his now-neglected first bike would be to make it into ‘E.T.’,” said his dad Mike. “E.T.” appears trailside in Cooper, at the “weigh station” building.

Colleen O’Brien Clopton’s gold-sprayed art bike, “The Gilded Age B.C. (Before Cars),” is meant to make a statement, according to Clopton. “Bikes predate autos, and bike travel, as opposed to automobile travel, is quiet, serene, healthful and non-polluting,” she said. 

Roger Aegerter’s wind sail bike is meant as a parody of a Tour de France bike. “Bike the River” is what the sign on Aegerter’s bike sculpture says, a reference to much of the trail being located along branches of the Raccoon River.

For additional information about the art bikes or about the Greene County Arts Council, you can phone Nicole Friess-Schilling at 515-386-5516. (Photos appearing with this story are by Chris Henning.)

Article Published: 10-04-2006