The 2009 Bike Art Spectacular raised more than US$14,000 for the San Diego, California-based non-profit Kimberlee's Bikes for Kids this past Saturday, raising funds to distribute free bicycles, helmets and locks to underprivileged 1st - 3rd graders.
"Being the first year we had no idea what to expect," Dan Gindling, president of Kimberlee's Bikes for Kids, told BikeRadar Tuesday. "We definitely had exceptional art and a few exceptional art lovers.
"It was a great evening. People came to celebrate bike art, to celebrate Kimberlee. We had great food, two barbershop quartets, a caricature artist, and of course the stars of the evening: the bicycle art, which was all donated. I can't thank the artists enough for their donations."
Kimberlee's Bikes for Kids was established to honour Gindling's late wife Kimberlee Caledonia, an avid cyclist from San Diego who died of brain cancer in 2008.
The most expensive piece, "Tour de France", a 6’ x 3’ hand-painted aluminium wall sculpture by Israeli artist Dave Gerstein, was sold to a New York collector for US$6,600. The collector also bought the gallery-framed Leroy Neiman "Indoor Cycling" limited edition print for US$2,575.
"I am so pleased to be able to contribute to your wonderful and worthy cause," the collector said.
Gindling has created a Kimberlee's Bikes for Kids eBay store to allow patrons to continue supporting the organisation by bidding on and purchasing additional artwork.
In 2010 the foundation will distribute bikes, helmets and locks to children in San Diego, Lousiville, Indianapolis and Boston. For more information, visit www.kimsbikes.org.
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