bicycle tornado

Bicycle Tornado

I wanted to build a tornado out of old houses. (I still do!) While in line waiting to vote, I started up this conversation with one of the vice presidents of the university. I said tornado, she said Wizard of Oz. I paused and gaped; "I am going to build a tornado out of bicycles!"
Steve Arnold, the sculpture shops tech, told me that Dixon’s Bicycle Shop was moving and I went there. Lawrence Stueck, a former sculpture grad, suggested I go out to AC Peck who builds these twirly things from bike wheels. Then I received a grant from the grad school. This was going to happen!

I spent the ideal summer. I would bend each bike into a curve so they would stack and add rigidity to the structure. Once again I found myself climbing up one of my unfinished sculptures with an element over my shoulder, this time a bike, and weaving it into this rising vortex. I would then weld the bike into place.

This became an adventure, a mountain to be climbed, and I savored it. I had begun working nights to beat the heat.

When it was completed, Phil Golding, another former sculpture grad with a boom truck, moved the Bike Tornado onto site in front of the Ramsey Center. As Phil expertly moved the upper arms into place, Rick Herzog (You guessed it, another former sculpture grad. These guys are great!) helped me wrestle them into place.

The tornado was moved in five sections. The main trunk around ten feet in diameter and fourteen feet tall, was easily lifted into place by the boom truck. Then we bolted on the four arms that make up the top of the tornado.

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I wanted to build a tornado out of old houses. (I still do!) While in line waiting to vote, I started up this conversation with one of the vice presidents of the university. I said tornado, she said Wizard of Oz. I paused and gaped; "I am going to build a tornado out of bicycles!" Steve Arnold, the sculpture shops tech, told me that Dixon’s Bicycle Shop was moving and I went there. Lawrence Stueck, a former sculpture grad, suggested I go out to AC Peck who builds these twirly things from bike wheels. Then I received a grant from the grad school. This was going to happen! I spent the ideal summer. I would bend each bike into a curve so they would stack and add rigidity to the structure. Once again I found myself climbing up one of my unfinished sculptures with an element over my shoulder, this time a bike, and weaving it into this rising vortex. I would then weld the bike into place. This became an adventure, a mountain to be climbed, and I savored it. I had begun working nights to beat the heat. When it was completed, Phil Golding, another former sculpture grad with a boom truck, moved the Bike Tornado onto site in front of the Ramsey Center. As Phil expertly moved the upper arms into place, Rick Herzog (You guessed it, another former sculpture grad. These guys are great!) helped me wrestle them into place.


		The tornado was moved in five sections. The main trunk around ten feet in diameter and fourteen feet tall, was easily lifted into place by the boom truck. Then we bolted on the four arms that make up the top of the tornado.







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