Riding in Style: DDD Displays Local Art on Bike Racks Downtown
What makes functional art even better? When local artists are featured!
Last year, the DDD received grant funding from the Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalition and purchased six custom bike racks. Each rack can secure a total of six bikes, which provides 36 new spaces for bikes to be safely parked.
Before installation, however, we wanted to hear from the community. Throughout a series of online and in-person polls, the Downtown Hammond residents ultimately got to choose where these racks would be located. The following locations were chosen:
- Behind DDD Office/Farmers Market
- City Hall
- Hanson Crossing
- Police Station Parking Lot
- Cate Square Park
- Casa De Fresa Parking Lot
Once the racks were delivered, our friends at the City of Hammond and members of Boy Scout Troop 170 installed each rack. (Thanks, fellas!)
But we didn't want to stop there. We thought that these racks would be a perfect place to display art! So while the racks were being constructed by MadRax, we announced the first Downtown Hammond Bike Rack Art Contest. We challenged local artists to design a digital piece with the theme: "Only in Downtown Hammond". Artists of all ages were welcome to participate, as long as they are residents or students in Tangipahoa Parish. Six winners were chosen among dozens of entries. The winning entries are shown below:
"Columbia"
Artist: Matthew Moore
Rack Location: Hanson Crossing
"The Moon on a Hot August Night"
Artist: Charlotte Bradley
Rack Location: Hammond Police Station
"Lion"
Artist: Matthew Moore
Rack Location: Cate Square Park
"Rainbow Bike"
Artist: Lauren Funnell
Rack Location: #2 W. Thomas Street
"Octopus"
Artist: Jose Canales
Rack Location: Casa De Fresca Parking Lot
"Lion Bike"
Artist: Ryan Kenny
Rack Location: Hammond City Hall
The DDD would like to send a special thank you to: Boy Scout Troop 170, the City of Hammond, MadRax, SignWorld, the LHCC, Jose Canales, Lauren Funnell, Matthew Moore, Ryan Kenny, and Charlotte Bradley.
To learn more about the DDD's Bike Rack project, or any of the other cool things we do, click here.
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