New Glen Ellyn public exhibit turns old bikes into art

A face made of bicycle parts and an old bike that looks like a bee are part of a new public art exhibit in Glen Ellyn dedicated to the joys of biking.

The Bike It! exhibit opened Sunday and will be on display for a month, organizers say. It features about a dozen bikes at different spots in the village, each decorated and crafted into a work of art.

Most of the bikes are downtown, with a few along Roosevelt Road. Many are attached to bike racks.

“We hope it'll encourage people to come to downtown Glen Ellyn and take a walking tour and look at these bikes,” said Adrianne Gregory, a member of the village's environmental commission.

The bikes originally were castoffs donated by Glen Ellyn Cyclery and Koslow Cycle, Gregory said.

“They were bikes they were ready to just throw away,” she said.

Each bike was decorated and transformed by a business such as Bottle & Bottega art studio, PPK Architects and String Theory Yarn Company.

A couple of environmental commissioners also decorated bikes.

Gregory said the commission is trying to “inspire people with the environmental message ... that something junky can often be repurposed into something that's really cool.”

As part of the project, Gregory said village environmental commissioners will be downtown on some Saturdays to talk about environmental issues and pass out DuPage County bike trail maps.

Each of the bikes includes a license plate that lists, among other items, who made the art work.

Gregory said organizers hope the exhibit inspires people to ride bikes.

“We want to encourage people to use bikes because it helps the environment and it helps our health,” she said.