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2005 |
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Big Bucks. Big Challenges, Too Safe Routes to School Wins Federal Funding Durbin's 'Conserve By Bike' Will Convert Car Trips to Bike Biking Builds Relationship with Ward for New Generation of Aldermen Record Turnout for Chicagoland Commuter Challenge Gala Art Show a 'Gallery in Action' Miles and Miles of Fun, Every Sunday |
Gala Art Show a ‘Gallery in Action’ During discussions about dedicating the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s 20th Anniversary Gala to Randy Neufeld, in honor of his leadership of the organization, Bryan Saner, a CBF member, volunteered to oversee the artistic aspects of the gala. Bryan is a performance artist and understands that the performance part of art often happens behind the scenes. He is a member of the internationally-acclaimed Goat Island Performance Troupe. Although he promised to lend some artistic finesse to the gala, held April 3, that night he’d be on stage at Chicago’s Atheneum Theater in Lyn Hixon’s “When Will the September Roses Bloom?”.
In that evening’s performance, Bryan proclaimed, “When you think about everything that is happening here, on stage, there is no way to imagine everything that is happening elsewhere, offstage.” The truth is, while he said those words on stage there was no way that his audience could have known what other artistic moments he had simultaneously set into motion. The night of the gala, CBF members and friends stepped into the Midday Club on the 56th floor of Chicago’s Bank One building to find it carefully curated. There were conceptual pieces, abstract pieces made with bicycling materials, large photographs, books and a collection of rare and unique bicycles as well as “rat” bicycles (named for being entirely composed of scavenged parts). One woman asked if we had to take all of the art down after dinner, and I explained that we did. I admitted that the art she was looking at was all part of a big performance, a gallery in action. At one point a piano set on top of a trailer moved through the party towed by a Schwinn Pixie. Attendees applauded the performance by ringing little bike bells that had been given to them. In another room, Liz Wuerffel and Beth Gutelius, program managers of Mayor Daley’s Safe Routes Ambassadors, showed a video shot several years ago in which Randy towed his piano through city streets to complete his family’s move into a new home. The trailers, one live and one on video, crossed in the Midday Club signaling the opening of the dining room to those who had come to enjoy a gourmet dinner and a live auction benefitting CBF. The gala turned into a scene out of the past, complete with a vaudeville soundtrack, glittering dresses, photographers, bikers, lawyers and the sound of champagne fizz. The dinner was lovely, the crowd was great, and the art show kept people bubbling and bidding through dessert and coffee. And, Bryan Saner, across town at the Atheneum, was “artfully” busy, negotiating two performances in two places at one time. Travis Hugh Culley is a Chicago author, director and playwright
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