MASON CITY – A new sculpture was installed Monday evening near downtown Mason City, just in time to greet the RAGBRAI crowd set to visit town Wednesday.
A local artist brought his sculpture to the Rancho Deluxe Garden at 500 2nd Street NE and installed it in a clearly-visible location. The sculpture is a “bronze” bicycle, life-size, called Bois Velo. It was constructed from a variety of materials, mostly cement, by a Mason City artist.
The artist wishes to remain anonymous at this time, but said he loves to work with cement as a tribute to Mason City’s heritage, and the fact that some of his older relatives worked at the city’s cement plants.
“This sculpture is for the people, for them to enjoy, and for this garden, which I support,” the artist told NIT. He said he worked on the sculpture at his home for a number of hours before hauling it down to the garden in several pieces to be installed and finished.
The artist will install a seat on the sculpture before Wednesday and the throngs of RAGBRAI’ers hit the city. Riders will be welcome to sit on the sculpture to pose for pictures.
No tax dollars were used to install the sculpture; no hotel-motel tax funds were required to complete the art or its installation or to ease the way for the project. No city staff’s time or expertise was asked for nor required to complete the project.
At this time, there are 33 other sculptures in the downtown Mason City area; not one of them was created by a person from Iowa. What sets this latest sculpture apart from the others is not only was it created by an Iowan, it was created by a Mason City artist. (Note: Bois Belo joins a sculpture of three red dice in the Rancho Deluxe Garden, which was also created by Mason City residents. So actually, there are now 35 sculptures in the Mason City downtown area.)
Just minutes after the sculpture was installed, folks were lining up to touch it, in amazement at its texture and beauty, as its creator fielded question after question on how he completed his work.
“Perfect for RAGBRAI!” one woman said. “This will be a big hit with the bikers.”
