Sunday Snapshots ~ Cycling the Biennale Sculptures

The Cyclebetes National Relay begins in less than 3 months, at which time I will be part of a team of 6 riders, cycling from Vancouver to Calgary. As part of my training for the 1000+ km journey, I am cycling at least 3 days per week with one of those rides being a minimum of 3 hours in length. These longer length training rides are not focused on speed, but rather on endurance - get my legs spinning for long periods of time, and my body, especially my shoulders, upper back, and butt, used to extended saddle periods. The other 2 weekly training rides consist of shorter distances with the focus on speed and fitness.

Yesterday my long ride entailed touring around the city to view the Biennale Sculpture exhibit. The Biennale Sculptures are an outdoor art exhibit currently featured throughout the city of Vancouver. Consisting of 33 large sculptures, the exhibit has been here for 2 years, though I didn't hear about it until last week. All of the pieces are either for sale or sold, and starting next month they will be removed from their current spots and shipped to their permanent homes. For full info check out their website at vancouverbiennale.com.

So a group of us decided that we would hop on our bicycles and ride around to check out some of the pieces before they're gone. We managed to see 19 out of the 33 sculptures in Vancouver and its neighboring city of Richmond. Total mileage for this route was just over 50km (50.2 to be exact).

I took tons of pictures so that I could share these interesting works of art on my blog:

Walknig Figures by Magdalena Abakanowicz (Poland), Broadway & Cambie Canada-Line Station

Eros Bendato Scrippolato by Igor Mitoraj (Polish-Italy), Yaletown Park, Nelson and Mainland

Barbora by Vladas Vildziunas (Lithuania), Thornton Park, Station Street & Main Street

King & Queen by Sorel Etrog (Canada), Harbour Green Park, between Jervis & Bute

Artificial Rock #143 by Zhan Wang (China), Vancouver City Centre Canada-Line Station

A-maze-ing Laughter by Yue Minjun (China), Morton Triangle on Denman at Davie

Close up of one of the laughing men above

Pillows by Liu Jianhua (China), Harbour Green Park

Meeting by Wang Shugang (China), Cardero Park, Cardero Street and Coal Harbour Quay

Ceramic Forms by Yee Soo-Kyung (Korea), Cardero Park, Cardero Street and Coal Harbour Quay

Doors of Knowlegde by Patrick Hughes (UK), Minoru Park, Richmond

Reverse of above

Echoes by Michel Goulet (Canada), Kitsilano Beach Park at Watermark

Miss Mao by The Gao Brothers (China), Elmbridge and Alderbridge Way, Richmond

Water #10 bu Jun Ren (China), Cambie Plaza, Cambie and River Road, Richmond

Freezing Water #7 by Jun Ren (China), Vanier Park, Whyte Avenue and Chesnut Street

WE, 2008 by Jaune Plensa (Spain), Sunset Beach Park, Beach Avenue and Thurlow

Engagement by Dennis Oppenheim (USA), Sunset Beach Park, Beach Ave between Broughton and Jervis

Cabeza Vainilla, Cabeza Cordoba, Cabeza Chiapas by Javier Marin (Mexico), 

The second piece in the same series

The third piece in the same series

Donut #7 by Fletcher Benton (Canada), Queen Elizabeth Park