Freewheeling

Artists Richard Harrington and Charles Katzenbach are big fans of bicycles. They love the elegant, geometric design. They appreciate the simple, efficient engineering. They fondly recall the Schwinn Spyders and English racers and classic Rollfasts of their youth and the freedom that a bicycle of your own represented.

"I couldn't wait to get on my bike," said Katzenbach. "The colors, the motion, the world speeding by . . ."

When they began planning their joint show for The Artists' Gallery in Lambertville, Harrington and Katzenbach decided to make bicycles the theme. They also decided to make the show align with a few other topics close to their hearts: recycling, reducing waste, and sharing.

"It kills me to see a bike thrown out with the trash," said Harrington. "A bike shouldn't be in a landfill."

Harrington and Katzenbach hope that a few more will be saved from that fate this month as their show, "Freewheeling," aims to help support and promote the mission of Pedals for Progress, a High Bridge, NJ, organization that collects used bikes and ships them overseas to provide affordable, nonpolluting transportation for the world's working poor.

"What Pedals for Progress does is a very effective form of economic aid," said Katzenbach. "They reduce waste here at home, support a green technology, and provide basic transportation to the poor."

Katzenbach, who primarily creates abstracts with oil paints on glass and mirrors, recycles cast-off glass and wood in the work he constructs in his studio on his Hopewell farm. In the case of "Freewheeling," he's recycled some bicycle parts as well.

"I've been experimenting with bike wheels primarily," Katzenbach said. "A number of spiral designs have resulted. It's been fun."

Harrington, who paints in a representational style in watercolor and acrylics, has always had a fascination with vehicles of all sorts. An assistant professor of illustration at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, he is known for his automotive art, which ranges from classic beauties to rusting hulks in junkyards.

"I enjoy finding the beauty in subjects that others pass by or easily dismiss," says Harrington. "I found while walking through Center City Philadelphia how interesting the different bicycles chained to various racks and posts were, and they intrigued me enough to begin photographing, sketching, and painting pictures of them. I became equally interested in the different types of people that owned and used the bikes, and have included some of them in the works created for 'Freewheeling.'"

"Freewheeling" will be on display at The Artists' Gallery in Lambertville Friday, September 9 through Sunday, October 2. An opening reception will be held Saturday, September 10 from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Harrington and Katzenbach will donate 20 percent of the purchase price of any works sold during this exhibition to Pedals For Progress. In addition, representatives from Pedals for Progress will be on hand at the The Artists' Gallery to accept bicycle donations on October 2 from 1 to 4 PM.