The new multi-purpose sculpture and bike rack, dubbed “Coffee,” was installed in front of Neighborhood JAM on Main Street this week. Multiple bike rack sculptures were removed from the area last spring due to construction, but they have all been reinstalled this week.
Joshua Boydston, associate director of the Norman Arts Council, said the city was weary that ongoing construction on Main Street could potentially harm the sculptures, so they were removed for a period of about six months.
“Now that it’s all done and settled and the landscaping is in, it is safe for them to return,” Boydston said.
Megan Nance created "Coffee" two years ago when she was was working full time as a graphic designer at the Oklahoma Gazette. The Norman Arts Council had a competition that invited local artists to submit designs that would be turned into bike rack sculptures in Norman. Nance submitted five designs for the contest, and four were chosen as winners.
“The coffee one was actually my favorite because I’m a big coffee person, and we have lots of cute little coffee places around Norman, so I was hoping it was going to end up in front of one of those when I made it,” Nance said. “Neighborhood JAM wasn’t even there yet, but now that it’s there, I love that too, because I love Neighborhood JAM, and it’s a really cool building on Main Street.”
Artists in the competition were able to choose from the Norman Arts Council’s color scheme of the year when submitting their pieces. Nance chose the teal color for her sculpture and created a line drawing of her piece on Adobe Illustrator.
“Each line was representative of the tubing they used to create the bike rack, so they used the actual rendering that I gave them and then a production company made the bike rack,” Nance said.
Since creating “Coffee,” Nance has gone back to school at OU and hopes to work as an elementary school art teacher in the future. She also plans to submit more of her artwork in any competition the Norman Arts Council has, she said.
Norman residents can expect more bike rack sculptures to be installed in the near future.
“I think most of the rest are destined for along Lindsey Street probably pretty soon,” Boydson said.
