SRAM pART Project

In the summer of 2011 I was contacted by Terrence Coffman, former President of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and the Maryland College of Art and Design, about participating in a project to benefit World Bicycle Relief. I was a bit skeptical at first as I was also trading emails with a Nigerian scammer at the time, but Terrence's offer was indeed legitimate. A week later a box arrived with one hundred random high-performance bike components from SRAM. The challenge, make something with it. Forty six artists participated, including myself, and you can see all of the results here. The artwork was shown at the Interbike national bicycle show in Las Vegas this summer and was sold at auction in Chicago on November 30, 2011 raising enough money to purchase eleven bicycles for Africans.

World Bicycle Relief serves people in underdeveloped regions of the world who suffer from lack of access to health care, education, and economic opportunity. With a bicycle you can travel four times farther, carry five times more, and save up to three hours a day in travel time (based on a 10-mile commute). So you can get to a doctor, to school, or to work faster and more safely. Doors closed by distance are now opened, as is the way to a better life.



Black Madonna
2011
SRAM parts, PVC statue, and OSB

photo courtesy of Mark Brautigam