An antique bike frame hanging on the wall of a metal recycler’s has inspired an art project that creator Kevin Butcher describes as “part Mad Max and part Starship Enterprise”.

Butcher plans to raffle his creation, called The Trike, to help kickstart fundraising for a 6-metre-high kiwi statue for Whakatāne – a project spearheaded by artist David Pool.

The Trike has taken Butcher eight months to create in his garage. It comes with power and light sources, though no engine.

“If I put a motor in it, and made it roadworthy, it would just be a trike,” he said.

“I wanted to make something that, to make it work, you have to have an imagination.”

He has fitted it with a colourful remote controlled LED pulsing light engine cooled with an electric fan, four chrome phasers – set to stun for reasons of safety – twin USB ports and a genuine Harley Davidson bobber seat.

“If someone wants to sit on it and use their imagination, then it can do anything.”

Butcher had been looking for a project to keep him busy in his garage over winter,

“The frame was the beginning of it. I went into Macaulay Metals looking for materials to do some steel work.

“This frame was hanging on the back wall. It’s bigger than a normal bike frame, and that’s what attracted me to it. It looked like a tandem, but it only had one seat.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I’d do something.”

Much of The Trike has been hand made with stainless steel, with some parts formed from parts from one of Butcher’s old motorbikes.

“I’ve done a bit of steel work before but nothing like this.

“I’m retired and it was just something for me to do over winter. I used to do a lot of painting, sculpting and carving but I haven’t done that for years and this was just something different.”

He describes his former working life as “a bit of everything”.

Most recently he had a picture framing business for seven years in Auckland.

Now suffering from terminal leukaemia, he said he had no interest in making money from the art piece.

“I didn’t do it to make money. I’ve just got nowhere to put it now.

“I just thought, what can I do with it that can be useful. If it can help raise some funds go to help kickstart the kiwi project, it’s been worthwhile for me.”

The Trike is on display as part of the Arts Collective exhibition at the pop-up gallery in the former Dick Smith building on The Strand.

Sculpture could be drawcard to kiwi capital

If artist David Poole has his way, Whakatāne could one day be home to a 6-metre-tall Robert Onnes sculpture celebrating the town’s status as the kiwi capital of New Zealand.

Poole’s friend, Auckland sculptor Onnes, who is based in Detroit in the United States, has created a series of art works based on New Zealand’s national bird.

Pool has spent over $1000 of his own money on a marquette (small scale model) of his desired sculpture along with human figurines showing the relative size of the kiwi.

He says members of the Whakatāne Kiwi Trust are on board with the idea and he hopes to engage with Whakatāne district councillors over coming days to seek their input.

“My plan is to have it outside the Wally Sutherland building on The Strand. I’m not fixed that it has to be there, but once that turns into an art centre, I think that would be a good drawcard, like the wand in New Plymouth. That’s become a must-go-to place.”

He said the sculpture would be made from Corten steel, which gives a natural rust-like appearance when weathered but will not deteriorate.

He expects it to cost about $60,000 to build and plans to approach a variety of funding agencies to seek support.

Donations toward a 6-metre-tall kiwi statue for Whakatāne are being accepted at the Arts Collective pop-up gallery in the former Dick Smith building on The Strand.

Photo Troy Baker E5171-02