Bayers Westwood Puppet show

Had a really fun day working with the children from Bayers Westwood, we made puppets and two performances. It's amazing how creative these kids are with such simple materials.

Fairview "The Green"

Another fine day in Fairview where kids from the neighbourhood came to "The Green" and had time to play and be creative together. We decorated drums and played them; made costumes and made a toy theatre. The bike wheel dome was a great hang out zone where bracelet making and storytelling happened. What a wonderful place for Art Biker activities to happen!

Mulgrave Park

Mulgrave Park kids were into making art today by the garden! They participated in sewing, print making, and painting! Check out their creations!

Silly Faces and Fence Decorations at Ardmore Park

Art Bikers were welcomed back to Ardmore Park by community residents to continue the fence decorations (Silly Faces in other years). The fence has become a kind of "living mural" over the last few years.  We are thrilled this community enjoys creating community art  together and that we are invited back. Check out the photos of some of this year's additions to the fence. Thank you, Ardmore residents! 

Printing Postcards at the Africville Reunion

We joined in the amazing Africville Reunion at Seaview park with lots of materials for participants to make postcards. We are grateful to have been part of a really wonderful community event and love all the art that was made and shared. 

Youth Project Pride Decorations

The Art Bikers were happy to return to The Youth Project yesterday to helped create awesome props for their candy-themed float for the PRIDE parade. We were overwhelmed with the warmth and energy that the Youth Project shared with us. It was a great day of creating community & connections through art. Happy PRIDE to everyone!

Veith House Summer Camp

It was a first time activity for us to work with the kids at the Veith House summer camp and we liked this opportunity to create together with other residents of Veith House (the location of our studio this summer). The focus of the activity was exploring ways and materials to make different textures. It was great spending a creative afternoon with the campers!

Bayers Westwood Parade Building

Art Bikers have been spending time in the Bayers Westwood community since our very first summer in 2007. We are always excited to return and see how old friends have grown over the winter and to meet the "new kids". This visit we all worked on building props, musical instruments, stilts, and costumes for a parade. Together we also made a giant creature named "Jeff" that the kids could walk under. The kids were so inventive - they were inspiring for us all!

Nature Weaving and Water Lanscapes at Chocolate Lake

Being at Chocloate Lake is fun, but making art at Chocolate Lake is even better! Art Bikers arrived with some bicycle rims, art materials, pop caps, and weaving materials. It didn't take long for participants to come up with all kinds of fun ways to creatively use the materials. The waterwheels made from bike rims were a creative piece of engineering. (Science and art working together in a way that seemed only about fun!)

Nature weaving is always a big hit and on this day was a relaxing break from the sun in a more shaded part of the park.

What a beautiful, art-filled, day!

Bayers Westwood Cardboard Creations

We had an awesome last couple days at Bayers Westwood. The kids are so creative and made lots of really inventive masks as well as a spaceship, make up dresser, superhero costumes, a cow, and an alligator - all out of cardboard!

Whirligigs and Wooden Jumping Jacks at Ardmore Park

A little rain didn't keep the residents of the Ardmore Park area from getting creative making whirligigs and Jumping Jacks. This smile tells the whole story!

Musical Fence at North End Community Circle BBQ

We were so excited to be invited to the North End Community Circle for their BBQ and to be asked to create a musical fencein Isleville Park. We loaded up the trailers all kinds of fun (and potentially noisy!) materials and objects. With the help of participants we created the Musical Fence which was then enjoyed by many people of all ages. We've since received several "thank you's" from parents whose children continue to vist and "play the fence".


We <3 community art!

Collaborative Printing at Dartmouth SWITCH

We are big supporters of SWITCH - on both sides of the Harbour! - so we excited to plan an activity for this year's DartmouthSWITCH. We wanted to have something fun that invovled both collaborative artmaking and bicycles - so we brought materials for bike tire printing (both mural-size and for your own personal t-shirt). The idea was you just rode your bike over the inked fabric and helped create a unique print of with your tracks. But participants were way more creative than that, and we had skateboarders, walkers, dancers and all kinds of prints being made. Lots of creative fun on a busy sunny Sunday!

100 in 1 Day

The 100 in 1 Day event was celebrating its second year in Halifax. We took this opportunity to help "transform" Halifax by making and installing flags and banners in various locations. We had worked with participants at Wonder'neath Open Studio in the week leading up to the event to create 100 flags/banners.

It was a very rainy day, but ... a little rain can't dampen our creative spirits!

Bicycle Plates! Bike Expo HRM Bike Week

The Art Bikers love to support and be part of Halifax Bike Week. We usually join in the activities at the Bike Expo bringing some art-making creative fun. We were happy to see the Expo return to the Commons this year.

This year we packed up materials for participants to make "license plates" for their bicycles. Of course you don't need a license plate for your bike, so we thought this was a fun way for participants to personalize their bikes. We think from the photos below you agree with us that the participants seemed to think so too!

Art Bikers 2015

The ART BIKERS team is hired! Training has started. We are excited to have Merle Hardy and Eric Diolola, both previously Art Bikers, return and to welcome Wil Brask and Evan Cameron to the Art Bikers team.

Today is Day 3 of the training and right now the Art Bikers are busy collaborating on a "map" that "fits together" the skills, talents and gifts each individual brings creating a cohesive and dynamic team portrait. There's lots of chatting and laughter and tons of creativity filling the studio.

Almost ready to go!

The Art Bikers team will be starting work on May 11th. Our first month, as with other years, is a combination of in-studio training and experiential training in the community.

Here's a few places you can meet us in the next month:
On May 15th, 23rd and 29th the team will take part in Wonder'neath Open Studio http://www.wonderneath.com/new-blog-1/ You can join us there.

Or meet us on June 7th at SWITCH Dartmouth http://switchhfx.ca

And stay tuned for our plans for our 100 in 1 Day Halifax intervention on June 6th https://halifax.100in1day.ca

We'll be tweeting our schedule this year. You can follow us on Twitter @artbikersteam
And of course on Facebook, too https://www.facebook.com/artbikers

Looking forward to seeing you this summer!

Bayers Westwood Mural!

The mural on McAlpine Street in the Bayers Westwood community has been a two year project so far. Residents in the area asked Art Bikers to help transform the grey concrete retaining wall many years ago. In 2013 Art Bikers started worked with community members to transform one section. These photos below are from the second stage in 2014. The wooden pieces are original works created by neighbourhood children over the summer. Then the children worked with the Art Bikers to paint the community map.

We are looking forward to 2015 and adding another creative section to the wall.