Photo Credit: Kristof Ramon
“It’s more than a place to hang art,” says the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s executive director, Laurie Winters. Sure enough, her museum’s main current exhibition of 38 bicycles, “Joy Ride: Designing Trek,” isn’t hung from the walls but mounted on platforms.
But the way MOWA installs its art is not what she’s talking about, but rather, she points to the sorts of programming surrounding “Joy Ride.” The event includes the obligatory opening night party and expected panel discussion with Trek designers discussing their craft. But MOWA’s “Summer of Cycling” also includes a bus trip to Trek’s headquarters in Waterloo, Wis.; family bike-decorating events and safety clinics; and the Beer and Bike Ride (Saturday, Aug. 4) through the Kettle Moraine. Throughout the year, regardless of what’s hanging (or otherwise displayed), MOWA’s calendar brims with workshops, family activities and “Express Talks,” a 20-minute lecture or tour conducted by curators every Thursday, noon-12:20 p.m.
“I feel there’s all this interesting stuff out there—I want to connect with it in ways that are unexpected,” Winters says. “I want children’s first experience of an art museum to be one of fun and engagement. I want to make it easy for people to come back.”
Bicycles are certainly fun and engaging. “Everyone has a bicycle experience or memory they can connect to,” adds MOWA’s communications and marketing director, Jessica Wildes. But “Joy Ride” is also part of a larger project to showcase the artifacts of Wisconsin industries—the designs for life blueprinted and executed by creative residents of our state.
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The idea began with last year’s exhibit, dedicated to the children’s fashion line launched in 1945 by Shorewood’s Florence Eiseman. “Before her, children’s clothing was miniature adult clothing,” Winters says. “She developed the idea of the worldly child—her advertising promoted the idea of little girls as scholars, positioning them as future leaders.”
This summer Trek Bikes is the featured Wisconsin company. Like Eiseman, it began modestly and attained world recognition. Trek was founded in 1975 by Dick Burke and Bevil Hogg in a Waterloo barn. It caught the tide of cycling in the U.S. as it rose from a kid’s activity to an integral part of adult life. “The work of Trek’s designers is typically viewed from a business perspective,” says Trek’s product design director, Steve Baumann. “The MOWA exhibit is more about the art of bicycle design and its relationship to the experience of riding a bike.”
As shown by the bicycles displayed in “Joy Ride,” Trek was also an innovator, leading the way from the steel-framed bikes of the 20th century to the carbon fiber bikes of today. Inspired by aerospace designs, the new generation of bikes are light as a feather but hard as steel. The exhibit also includes an idea Trek modified from its European competitors, e-bikes with electric motors that assist in pedaling—perfect for older cyclists afraid of losing stamina over a long ride—as well as a few personal bikes designed by Trek employees for their own use. Baumann explains that many hours were spent discussing what to include in “Joy Ride” based on “what’s happening in contemporary bicycling, the history of specific bikes from Trek’s collection and the ideas behind the one-of-a-kind bikes made by Trek’s designers. The bikes on display were chosen as the best representatives of those stories.”
Those one-of-a-kinds are often eye-popping in appearance, painted in Scottish tartan plaid or to resemble the bark of a birch tree. Designer Kristina Bybee’s bike was inspired by the interior of a Greek restaurant with its gold plating and green marbled paint job.
“We talked with Trek about the important points in their history, the markers of their evolution,” Winters says. “We knew we wanted one of the first bikes they ever made so that viewers can see the differences between then and now. We also wanted to show Trek’s support for the sport of bike racing and their adventure bikes designed for mountains or winter.” Cedarburg-born Eric Larsen rode one of the bikes on display across the Antarctic ice to the South Pole.
“Like all designers, we’re trying to solve problems,” Baumann concludes. “The best design solutions are winners in everyone’s eyes. When everyone who touches a product during its lifecycle has a great experience, it’s a great design. To get there we focus on being honest, refined, dynamic and consistent in our design practices.”
“Joy Ride: Designing Trek” will be on display through Aug. 5 at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, 205 Veterans Ave., West Bend. Activities at the museum this summer include the Art & Chalk Fest, July 28-29, an annual arts and crafts festival that also features chalk artists from around the nation.
