Bike the Art

press release: Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) and The Bubbler at Madison Public Library are pleased to announce the August Bike the Art tour schedule. Bike the Art is a monthly curated bicycle tour of Madison’s arts offerings. Organized by ALL, The Bubbler, VEA Events and Madison Community Discourse, in collaboration with local artists, arts organizations and businesses, Bike the Art encourages participation in the arts via sustainable transportation, and promotes the richness of arts resources available in the Madison area. It’s free to join the tour - all ages welcome. Those who cannot bike are invited to walk, bus, or carpool to meet up with us along the route. Participants are welcome to join the tour at any stage.

The June tour will take place on Sunday, August 20, 2017, beginning at 3:00pm at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Rooftop to view Meg Mitchell’s Tenacious Numismatic Hops Exchange (TNHE): a hop garden for unyielding people. Designed to resemble architectural trusses, this site-specific, living artwork is composed of six twenty-foot-tall aluminum beams on a winch system—a massive artwork that functions both as a trellis to support the growth and harvesting of hops, and as a platform for social engagement, educational programming, and artistic activity. Artist Meg Mitchell conceived of her sculptural installation, familiarly referred to as the Hops Exchange, as a creative means to address complex contemporary issues. Merging the visual language of industrial architecture with the socio-economic history of the hop plant, Mitchell’s Hops Exchange points to conceptual concerns surrounding ownership and control of natural resources, and the ethics underlying the intersection of human labor and commerce.

The second stop will involve some stair climbing as we tour three of the Stair Trek project murals, starting at the Madison Children Museum's Stair Trek: Core to Cosmos at 3:35pm. Core to Cosmos takes visitors on an interactive journey through the universe, from the depths of the Earth’s core, through caves, forests, tree canopies, sky, and to the remote reaches of outer space. The exhibit features the voices of children from the Madison community, who describe the sounds, smells, textures, and feelings of each environment in poetic, playful, unexpected, and profound ways. Core to Cosmos includes hundreds of drawings collected from children over the past year. We'll also view the murals at the ULI Parking Garage and the YWCA's installation of portraits of mothers and children created by Tyanna Buie and Angela Johnson.

Stop three will be the new You Are Beautiful mural at Art In at 4:30pm. When Madison East alum Brendan Scanlon—also known as street artist SOLVE—passed away in 2008, memorial art calling out YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL started showing up in surprising places. SOLVE and others in his collective had painted the message around Chicago before his death, and as communities rallied around the words, it grew into a widely recognized public art initiative. When LGBTQ mentors and youth artists created Madison's You Are Beautiful mural through the ArtWrite Collective, they offered a nod to the international campaign's roots in Madison's east side and encouraged queer and trans youth to claim space, share their stories, and develop their practice as young artists.  

Next we'll visit Cafe Domestique at 4:55pm to be the first to view a new exhibition of photography by Jeff Kennel, Trek's photojournalist, plus art bikes created by the Trek Design Team for their annual bike design competition. Some of the bike creators may be on hand to talk about their bikes! Additionally, Cafe Domestique baristas will give Latte Art demos.

The tour will end at Olbrich Park for Makeshift at 5:30pm, a new festival aimed at celebrating creativity in the visual and culinary arts and creating new memories in Madison’s world-class parks. Makeshift brings together designers, visual artists, & restaurants from the Midwest to present a visually stunning, delicious & immersive experience. Proceeds go to the Madison Parks Foundation. Participating artists include Jason Yi (Milwaukee),  Eric Adjetey Anang (Teshie-Nungua, Ghana), Erica Hess (Madison), Michael Duffy (Madison), Dakota Mace (Albuquerque), Tom Loeser (Madison), Alex Levine (Chicago),  The Warming Hive (Milwaukee), Jeremy Wineberg (Madison), Jennifer Bastian (Madison),  Gabe Strader-Brown (New York), Tri Ngo (Chicago), Holly Meyers (Madison), and Helen Lee (Madison).

Bike the Art tours are being scheduled each month from May through October. Most stops feature special activities or receptions, including artist/curator talks, food art, video screenings, performances, hands-on experiences and more. Watch for information about the September and October tours.

Bike the Art is sponsored by Dane Arts and Promega Corporation, and endorsed by the Madison Arts Commission. Additional support is provided by: Artist & Craftsman, Cadence Coffee, Cafe Domestique, Humble Pie, Machinery Row Bicycles, Old Sugar Distillery, Underground Food Collective, and other partners.

More information about the tours and participating organizations will be posted online at facebook.com/biketheart as it becomes available.

BIKE THE ART AUGUST SCHEDULE

MMoCA Rooftop 3:00 - 3:30pm

Stair Trek mural tour: Madison Children's Museum, parking garage and YWCA 3:35 - 4:20pm

Art In: You Are Beautiful Mural 4:30 - 4:50pm

Cafe Domestique with Trek 4:55 - 5:20pm

Makeshift at Olbrich Park 5:30pm