CYCLING and bikes was the theme of an exhibition at the Teignmouth TAAG centre.

Bikes, a celebration of two feet, was run in conjunction with the pedal ‘n’ pulse event on The Den run by Teign Estuary Transition, and attracted interest from various artists.

They included Elizabeth Rashley with her wonderful lino cuts, Catherine Denison and Janet Hockey, who had already explored the subject.

Others like Margaret Sheppard and students from Trinity School rose to the occasion by raiding bike shops for spare parts, and taking them apart to reconstruct into sculptures, drawings and other works of art.

The staff at Waitrose made a mobile from recycled material. The multi-coloured skate park which featured in the exhibition, was a result of the work of primary school children at Trinity learning how to create strength in structures.

‘It has been great to see the work of so many young people in the exhibition and others coming in to enjoy playing with it,’ said Mary Lidgate from Transition.

‘We and TAAG are old allies and collaborators. TAAG is a community enterprise which offers important community space to groups like ours. Exhibitions of this kind do not earn an income, as much of the work is not for sale, so costs have to be covered through grants, donations and collaborations.

‘Mainly the work is an exploration of a subject and creates a different energy, which in this case has been enjoyed by bike enthusiasts and people who may not have usually been enticed into an art gallery.

‘One man told me he was passing and saw the bike wheels and an invitation to “turn” on a sculpture from the window, and as a cyclist he just had to come in and see what it was about. Hopefully this will not be his last visit to the gallery.’

Transition gave special thanks to Ride On, Exeter; The Bike Shed, Exeter; Braking Wind, Dawlish and Green Machine, Newton Abbot for bike bits contributions, and Waitrose.