Morristown Art of the Bicycle Show turns scrap heaps into objets d’art

TRUE LOVE: Ryan Taylor presents a sprocket flower to his sweetheart, Ashley Cook. They co-organized the third annual Art of the Bicycle Show at Marty's Reliable Cycle in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
0

What is art?

That’s too hard. Start again.

Where is art?

“Art is everywhere,” answered Ashley Cook, who organized Friday’s third annual Art of the Bicycle Show with her boyfriend Ryan Taylor. “You can make art out of everything. And it should be fun.”

Examples of this ethos were everywhere at Marty’s Reliable Cycle, beginning with Ashley’s saddle-and-handlebars skull-and-crossbones and Ryan’s sculpture of spinning pink pedals.

“It’s all recycled,” said Ryan.

“We are garbage-pickers,” confirmed Ashley, whose romance with Ryan began some years back when she prank-called him while he was, ahem, in custody. Ryan had differed with local authorities about where it’s permissible to ride a BMX bike.

ryan taylor and ashley cook
TRUE LOVE: Ryan Taylor presents a sprocket flower to his sweetheart, Ashley Cook. They co-organized the third annual Art of the Bicycle Show at Marty's Reliable Cycle in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

The show included a nifty series of paintings celebrating the chain ring by Amy Broadwell, another Marty’s staffer. Julie Landgraf returned this year with her ingenious jewelry crafted from rubber tire tubes. Mike Felber’s colorful creations were born when he splashed paint on revolving sprockets.

Roxbury substitute teacher and aspiring hockey coach Todd Carpenter showed off clever bicycle-themed portraits of such celebrities as Pee Wee Herman and Marty’s owner Marty Epstein. Caitlin O’Dell, an art teacher at the Frelinghuysen Middle School, presented a lovely watercolor of her beloved Ross bicycle.

WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM? No, it's the Bicycle Waterfall that is hiding Ruby Huber, at Art of the Bicycle Show in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM? No, it's the Bicycle Waterfall that is hiding Ruby Huber, at Art of the Bicycle Show in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughli

Performance pieces in the yard featured three perennial favorites: Pedal-powered paint wheels, phonographs and waterfalls.

The waterfall was the brainchild of Newark-based artists Marie Pasquariello and Ryan Reedell.  Teenager Ruby Huber cycled like crazy to send torrents of water cascading into a trough in front of her handlebars.

Danielle Diedrich, 11, pedaled furiously to spin the paint wheel while sister Francine, 17, applied copious globs of paint. A few paces away, Dave Kormann sweated hard to keep the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet spinning on a turntable.

Dave is married to Kendra Arnold, whose weeklong Bike-o-Rama series of movies and rides culminated Friday with the monthly Critical Mass ride and the art show.

“I thought it was really great how  many people were willing to help out and were interested in leading easy rides around town and showing off what they think is interesting in Morristown.  I am really hopeful that having these short fun rides will get more people out riding around town for errands and fun,” said Kendra, who envisions adding bike polo and a cycling flea market next year.

Other short rides, including full moon tours, are in the works. Cyclists are planning 7 pm meetings on the first Monday of each month at Greenberry’s, Kendra said.

Whether it qualifies as performance art or marriage therapy is open to interpretation, but riding a tandem bicycle definitely poses a learning curve, said the husband-and-wife team of Jill Anderson and Tom Bowmaster.

The Morris Township couple followed the Critical Mass peloton to the art show on their bicycle-built-for-two. While they may have appeared to be joined at the saddle, Tom said the key to marital bliss in such situations is maintaining independence. As in, independent freewheels.

dave kormann
Dave Kormann keeps the Rolling Stones spinning thanks to his furious pedaling, at the Art of the Bicycle Show in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“That way she doesn’t have to keep up with my pedaling,” Tom explained. He also is the brake man. The arrangement works pretty well–most of the time. “We’ve had to leap off” on occasion, he said with a grin.

As guests munched on garlic chips from Anthem catering in Denville and the Montclair duo The Quiet and the Loud provided the evening’s soundtrack, Marty Epstein surveyed the scene in his environmentally friendly shop with obvious pride.

He has pushed the notion of sustainability as a member of the Morristown Partnership, a pro-business organization, and if there is a central theme to the Art of the Bicycle, it’s the S-word.

“Events like this are all about making this a more livable community,” Marty said. “Making Morristown a place you want to live and work and do business in. If we do more events like this, it will bring more people who want to live in Morristown, and make it a cultural mecca. That’s what the Community Theatre does, what the Bickford does. It all adds up to a place where people want to live. That’s why we do things like this.”

LEAVE A REPLY