Bike Rack Designs Chosen

Six local artists have been chosen to build sculptures that will double as bike racks on Nashville’s sidewalks.

Across the street from the downtown library, a giant padlock will emerge from the sidewalk. Near Music Row, bicycles will nestle in the serpentine cord of a huge microphone. Those, and four other designs, were chosen by the Metro Arts Commission from nearly 140 submissions. Most of the artists live in Nashville. All are Tennesseans. Money to pay for the racks comes from the Percent for Art fund. Every time the city issues bonds to pay for building projects, one percent is set aside for public art. Right now, the fund has a balance of about 2 million dollars. Each bike rack will cost 25-hundred.

The Arts Commission considers the bike racks a model for spreading art throughout the community. So far, the fund has only been spent on projects in or near downtown. Councilman Charlie Tygard has introduced a bill that would require the fund to pay for projects in each of Metro’s school districts.