We are offering 20 community members a chance to modify or adorn their steel bicycles in a whirlwind day of creation. If you register, you will be encouraged to transform your own cycles or Free Cycles material into works of creative expression using our tools and guidance. These works of art will be used as demonstration pieces for the Missoula community.

This workshop will be offered free of charge! It is open to all ages and abilities (though those under 15 will have to be accompanied by an adult). Participants will be introduced to some of the industrial processes that go into fabricating their bicycles at the commercial level. They will have an opportunity to learn how to use the tools of metal working to suit their individual creative needs.

Participant learners will be guided by our lead artist for the Artist In Residency program, Jesse Blumenthal, (and skilled volunteers) through the design of the creative adornment or modification they envision for their bicycle. The rest of the day will be an all out fabrication frenzy! Tool stations will be set up to accommodate many people working at once, with each monitored by skilled volunteers to ensure the participants safety and assist in any tool use questions which may arise.

Please register for Funkify Your Bike! below. We will allow up to 20 people to participate in the workshop, we will contact you a week in advance prior to the workshop to inform you if you have a secure spot.

Examples of past Free Cycles art projects using recycled materials. From left to right: Trophies made for MTB Missoula, a 4-wheel, 2-seater pedal powered vehicle made from old kids bikes and bed frames, a wheel dome sculpture displayed in Caras Park, and a 3-wheel, 2-seater vehicle we have dubbed “The Riot Trike.”