01.03 Bicycle Ideation Sketches Assignment

Assignment Deliverables

1. Ideation Sketches
   • Evidence of 30-45 minutes of active ideation sketching
   • Upload individual image files or a combined PDF
   • Label files YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname Bicycle Ideation Sketches (.jpg,.png,.pdf)
2. Reference Artist Research from Provided List
   • At least 1 image and 2-3 sentences of observations / analysis
   • Include URL of image source
   • Label file YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname Reference Artist Research (.pdf, .docx)
3. New Reference Artist Research
   • At least of 1 image and 2-3 sentences of observations / analysis
   • Include URL of image source
   • Label file YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname New Reference Artist Research (.pdf, .docx)

Note: Optionally you may upload a single .zip archive of all your files labeled inside the archive for easier submission to Canvas. If uploading a .zip then label the archive file YYYY-MM-DD Lastname Firstname Ideation Assignment .zip

Assignment Overview

Develop possible directions for the Bicycle Sculpture Project through rapid ideation sketches and artist research.

Your goal is not to design or customize a conventional bicycle. Instead, treat the bicycle as a collection of structures, bearings, pivots, wheels, cranks, and other mechanical components that can be cut apart, rearranged, extended, duplicated, and combined into something unexpected.

The final sculpture does not have to be a vehicle or remain rideable, but it must incorporate bicycle components and include kinetic elements, parts that actually move. These sketches are starting points for experimentation. They do not need to resolve every fabrication or engineering problem.

Bicycle Components as Mechanical Materials

A bicycle already contains several useful systems for producing and transferring motion:

• Wheels and hubs provide large rotating elements with built-in bearings.
• The headset provides a strong pivot that can rotate a fork or another sculptural element.
• The bottom bracket provides a durable rotating axle for cranks, pedals, arms, wheels, or other moving parts.
• Cranks and pedals can generate human-powered rotational motion.
• Chains and sprockets can transfer rotation from one location to another.
• Rims and tires can function as large pulleys or friction-drive surfaces.
• Forks and frame sections can become structural supports for moving components.

You are encouraged to misuse these mechanisms. A headset does not have to steer. A bottom bracket does not have to drive a rear wheel. A wheel does not have to touch the ground.

Ways to Transfer Motion

Think about what happens when one movement causes another movement.

• Chains and sprockets
• Belts
• Ropes or cords
• Friction between wheels or rims
• Cranks
• Linkages
• Gravity
• Human interaction
• Motors or other mechanical systems

30 - 45 Minute Ideation Sketching

Spend 30 - 45 minutes generating ideas through ideation sketching.

Do not spend the entire time making one polished drawing. Make many quick sketches and allow one idea to lead to another. Begin with approximately 10 or more quick possibilities. Then select several promising ideas and develop them further.

Add short notes, labels, and arrows to explain how the sculpture might function. These notes will help other people understand your ideas and will help your future self remember what you intended when you return to the sketches later.

• Side views
• Front views
• Top-down views
• Detail views of mechanisms
• Arrows showing movement
• Connections between moving components

Explore

Consider questions such as:

• What rotates?
• What remains stationary?
• Where does the movement begin?
• What does the viewer touch or activate?
• How is motion transferred from one component to another?
• Could one wheel turn several other wheels?
• Could a wheel drive another wheel through friction?
• Could a belt connect two distant rotating parts?
• Could the headset become a pivot for an entire sculptural element?
• Could the bottom bracket rotate something other than a bicycle wheel?
• Could wheels rotate horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or overhead?
• What happens if bicycle components are duplicated or moved into unexpected locations?
• What happens if the frame is stretched, shortened, widened, stacked, or combined with another frame?
• What happens if the sculpture becomes extremely tall, long, wide, awkward, repetitive, unstable-looking, humorous, or absurd?
• Could the work become a stationary kinetic sculpture that barely resembles a bicycle?
• Could the work require someone to pedal, push, pull, crank, spin, or otherwise activate it?

Prioritize possibilities rather than solutions. Fabrication, testing, and prototyping will help determine what actually works. The bicycle is your starting material and mechanical vocabulary, not the required final form.

Ideation Sketch Documentation

Document your sketches. Sketches may be scanned or photographed, but the final documentation should clearly show the drawings rather than the environment around them.

When photographing sketches:

• Place the paper on a flat surface.
• Use bright, even lighting.
• Avoid shadows across the page.
• Hold the camera directly above and parallel to the paper.
• Fill the image frame with the page.
• Keep the entire drawing in focus.
• Crop out unnecessary background.
• Correct rotation and perspective if necessary.
• Adjust exposure so the paper appears light and the drawing remains clearly visible.

A phone camera is sufficient when used carefully. Combine multiple pages into a clearly organized PDF or submit clean individual images.

Reference Gathering Process

1. Select at least of 1 photo from the references below. Include the photo(s), the URL where found, and 2-3 sentences of observations about why you chose it.
2. Repeat the process for a reference not included in the list below. The source is up to you but it should be somehow related to the project. Include the photo(s), the URL where found, and 2-3 sentences of observations about why you chose it.

Artist + Project References

These references approach bicycles in very different ways. Some retain the bicycle as a human-powered machine, while others use bicycle wheels, bearings, chains, frames, or other components as raw material for kinetic sculpture.

When looking at these references, do not concentrate only on what the finished sculpture looks like. Look at how motion is produced and transferred: wheels, axles, bearings, belts, chains, pulleys, cranks, friction, gravity, motors, and the body can all become sculptural materials.

1. Art Bike Relief at Burning Man Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - 3 part series by Cécile Ravaux about Art Bikes at Burning Man
2. Koichiro Azuma - especially relevant for large interactive sculptures constructed from discarded bicycles and fabricated steel.
3. Rat Rod Bikes Forum - makers sharing their knowledge of frames built from scratch.
4. Peter Hudson (Hudzo Design) - heavily modified bicycles that drive the mechanical rotation and stroboscopic lighting of massive sculptures.
5. Jean Tinguely - kinetic machines built from wheels, belts, motors, scrap metal, and found mechanisms.
6. Paul Elkins - Burning Man tricycles.
7. Krank-Boom-Clank - artist collective who built the Hennepin Crawler. Making of Photos
8. Ai Weiwei - uses repeated bicycle forms to transform a familiar functional object into large-scale sculpture and installation.
9. Diane Landry - motorized installations incorporating bicycle wheels, pulleys, timing belts, bearings, light, and other materials.
10. Nemo Gould - kinetic found-object machines useful for studying mechanisms, cranks, linkages, and imaginative reuse.
11. Bike Kill 2023 - underground, alternative bike festival and wild street party.
12. Mark Grieve - co-creator of Cyclisk, a monumental sculpture made from hundreds of discarded bicycles.
13. Ilana Spector - co-creator and fabricator of Cyclisk.
14. Cyclecide Bike Rodeo - artist collective transforming junk bicycles into tall bikes, unusual vehicles, kinetic sculptures, and pedal-powered carnival rides.
15. Chris Cole Designs - kinetic sculptor who transforms salvaged bicycle and mechanical parts into moving creatures and machines.
16. Bicycle Chopper Gang Known as SCUL - bicycle construction guides
17. Juan Martinez - articulated, rideable animal sculptures fabricated from bicycle components and metal.
18. Melissa Daubert - interactive kinetic sculpture incorporating bicycle parts, cranks, wheels, and audience activation.
19. TallBikeTour - blog chronicling a tour on a tall bike
20. Dr. ARod - kinetic sculptures using bicycle wheels and components as rotating systems.
21. Patricia Vader - kinetic and public sculptures incorporating bicycle wheels and hubs.
22. Jake Beckman a 34-foot sculpture fabricated from bicycle wheels.
23. Cindy Chinn - sculptures made from recycled bicycle tires, wheels, pedals, and other components, including kinetic works activated by pedals.
24. OogieMustBoogie - decorative tricycle fish.
25. Rachel Dorn - combines discarded bicycle components with ceramic and mixed-media sculpture.
26. David Julian - Photographer who occasionally documents bicycles at Burning Man.
27. Keith Bryant - combines bicycle components, sprockets, wood, glass, and found objects into mixed-media sculpture.
28. Daria Wendland - large installations constructed from salvaged bicycle wheels.
29. Norman Tuck - interactive kinetic sculpture using bicycle wheels, motors, chains, and deceptively simple mechanical systems.
30. Bikes of Burning Man - article about bikes at Burning Man.

More Artists to look at.

Grading Rubric