Client: City of Fergus Falls and Dept of Natural Resources

Overview

The sculpture celebrates exaggerated scale bicycle tires as a nod to the bike trail users. Suspended from the tire trees are swings to encourage movement and play within the sculpture. Connecting the two tree spaces is a pedestrian play – bridge that evokes qualities of a railroad -like structure to honor the original train traffic of the trail. Each “railroad tie” acknowledges one of the 10 communities that make up the Central Lakes Bike Trail.
(powder-coated steel, swings, bronze, natural plantings)

Goals

The vision for the Central Lakes Bike Trail Sculpture takes into account the users of the Trail, the history of the site, and the natural prairie land of the Central Lakes region.

Process

Spring board for the Arts in partnership with the Department of Natural Resources and Mueller Studio worked together to make the project a reality. Additionally, the simple act of swinging was an activity mentioned several times in the Fergus Falls Children’s Art Vision project. In summary, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation” – Plato.

Additional Information

In 2017 the NFL's Superbowl Legacy fund supported "get out and play' grant initiatives around the state of Minnesota. Springboard for the Arts, The Department of Natural Resources and the City of Fergus Falls was awarded one of these grants to support a "play sculpture" to anchor the Central Lakes Bike Trail.