ROM Geared Up To Welcome Cyclists

Museum unveils unique bike stands inspired by collection items

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to unveil today a set of 12 new bike stands lining Queen’s Park along the Weston Family Wing. Designed by two Toronto artists, the decorative and unique sculptures feature objects inspired by the ROM’s collections, representing the Museum’s dual mandate of Natural History and World Cultures.

“We’re very pleased to collaborate with local artists and the City of Toronto to present this functional public artwork,” said William Thorsell, Director and CEO of the ROM. “With many of our visitors and staff biking to the Museum, it’s important to support our city’s cycling culture.” Mr. Thorsell was joined by City of Toronto Councillor Adrian Heaps, chair of the cycling advisory committee, to unveil these new bike stands during the city’s Bike Month.

The stands were designed and created by artists Jack Gibney and Phil Sarazen. They took over 1,000 pictures of ROM artifacts, specimens and even items from the ROM Museum Store to serve as their inspiration for each sculpture. Each chosen item not only had to be representative of the ROM’s collections, but also had to have the necessary structure to be translated into a functional, three-dimensional bike stand. A total of 36 potential sculptures were proposed with the ROM selecting six by each artist.

“Creating these bike stands has been the most satisfying and exciting project of my lifetime. The subject matter is historically and aesthetically fascinating,” said artist Jack Gibney.

Each sculpture is forged out of two-inch-thick galvanized steel and reflects one of the Museum’s many collections. There is a stand modeled on a skull of a saber-toothed mammal on display in the Gallery of the Age of Mammals. Another features a trilobite, a sea-dwelling invertebrate from 460 million years ago. The head of Queen Nefertiti was based on a wall relief in the Gallery of Africa: Egypt. The zebra head bike stand was modelled on a mask on sale at the ROM Museum Store. The sea monster, fish and horse sculptures were based on decorative tiles found in the ROM’s suite of Far Eastern galleries, along with a zhi ritual bronze basin from China. A stand shaped like a rython, or drinking vessel, in the shape of a ram’s head is based on an artifact in the Gallery of Greece. Two bike stands, one based on an ornamental rock crystal ewer and the other on a German coconut cup in the shape of a rooster, can both found in the Samuel European Galleries. The final bike stand, based on a Chinese two-headed bird, will be installed by the end of June.