SOBOcycles roll into gallery

The SoBo Art Gallery will be featuring something a little different at its monthly exhibition opening Aug 2 — six uniquely painted bicycle frames.

Given the name “SOBOcycles,” each frame is painted by a local artist. Each SOBOcycle will be part of an auction that will be taking place while the bikes are on display.

Dianna Duffy is a board member of the Winter Garden Art Association. She said SOBOcycles  got started when Winter Garden Wheel Works owner Dennis Jones offered to donate something to the Winter Garden Art Association that would help the association raise funds for its special outreach programs.

“Dennis offered to donate six bicycle frames in primer coat with the idea that our artists could paint them,” Duffy said.

Duffy said after the painted bike frames are unveiled at the gallery’s exhibition opening, each one will be moved to a local business where they will be on display for a month. 

“We are placing the … painted frames at six different merchants around town, and that includes the gallery,” she said. “Each one will have an information card on it that states the other locations. … Each frame has been named by the artist.”

In addition to the SoBo Gallery,  bikes will be on display at the Barrel Room in the Plant Street Market, Urban Flats, Wheel Works, Ms. Bee’s and Woofgang Bakery.

Duffy said the SOBOcycles will “hopefully drive additional business into those merchants.”

“We always aim for things to be a win-win — not just for one recipient but for everyone involved,” Duffy said. 

The auction for the bikes will take place during the month they are on display. 

“There will be a phone number for people to call in, place their bid, leave the name of the bicycle that they’re interested in and then we will monitor those calls daily,” Duffy said. “If someone is outbid, (we will) let them know so that they have a chance to keep bidding.”

Auction winners will receive their one-of-a-kind SOBOcycle at the end of the display period. Since it’s just a frame, the winners will have the option of leaving it as is and displaying it as a piece of art or completing the frame to make it a function bicycle.