Vintage Motorcycles at Kentucky Arts Museum

The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, 715 West Main Street, will present The Wind in Your Hair: Vintage Motorcycles from July 18 to September 19, 2009. The exhibit will feature vintage motorcycles manufactured between 1900 to 1970, memorabilia and accessories, and three motorcycle-related photography collections by Michael Lichter, Danny Lyon and Sarah Lyon. The Museum will also host a series of restoration and customizing workshops and lectures about collecting motorcycles and the cultural influences of motorcycles in the 20th and 21st centuries. The opening reception will be held Friday, July 17 from 5:00pm to 7:30pm, and will include a demonstration of pin striping techniques by local artist Miss Pinny and a motorcycle caravan. The opening reception is free and open to the public, leather optional.

Rare, unusual and landmark motorcycles of all kinds, including ACE, BMW, Cushman, Douglas, Indian, Harley, Excelsior, Motomarini, Triumph, Sunbeam, and Velocette will be part of this spectacular collection. One of the oldest bikes featured will be a 1911 Yale, with a tandem seat and original paint designs. This rare, early 20th century bike is the only one still in existence today. One of the many valuable motorcycles in the exhibition will be the 1912 Eagle that was manufactured in Brockton, Massachusetts. Ten of these originals exist today, and only four are still operable. This particular Eagle is one of the four rarities, and is the only bike that still has the original paintjob. Another not-to-be-missed bike in the exhibition is a 1906 Indian, which was restored in 2006. These three bikes hail from the collection of Jack Embry, who is the owner of The Bluegrass Motorcycle Museum in Hartford, Kentucky.

The exhibit will also showcase kinetic lamp sculptures created from recycled motorcycle parts by Randel Bird of Gearhead Designs in Texas, and photography collections by Michael Lichter, Danny Lyon and Sarah Lyon, which represent the passion people have for motorcycles and the lifestyle that accompanies them.

In 1977 Michael Lichter of Boulder, CO began photographing custom motorcycles and the biker lifestyle. He had already bought a used 1971 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead and began merging his passions for photography and bikes. In the years since, Easyriders Magazine and their sister publications have printed over 900 articles illustrated with his photography. As Michael finishes work on his 10th photo book on motorcycling, he continues to shoot and supply imagery for commercial clients in and out of the motorcycle industry, including Nikon Cameras, Indian Motorcycles, Michelin Tires, Allstate Insurance, Easyriders Magazine, and more than 20 motorcycle magazines internationally. He is considered by many as one of the most published photographers of this genre. In 2001, Michael began exhibiting his limited edition archive prints in America and abroad, which has led to his participating in many television programs and being the subject of numerous magazine articles. It is from this work that Michael has selected a group of images for “Michael Lichter: Photographer on Two Wheels.”

Danny Lyon’s collection of approximately 20 black-and-white photographs, which document the abandon and risk implied in the name of The Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club, will also be on display in “Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders.” Lyon, a New York state native, is widely recognized for his culturally significant photo book, The Bikeriders, published in the 1960’s. The Bikeriders, with its groundbreaking use of the protagonists’ own words juxtaposed with photographs, helped to sear motorcycle counterculture into the American psyche and was an inspiration for the film Easy Rider. Many of the photographs by Lyon were taken in the Midwestern United States, including Louisville, Kentucky.

The exhibition will also include 15 photographs of “Women Motorcycle Mechanics” by Louisville photographer Sarah Lyon. Lyon, who first had the idea to document women mechanics after traveling cross-country by motorcycle in 2003, photographed women mechanics from 2007 to 2009. The women’s stories are included in Lyon’s annually published calendar. Lyon’s approach to portraiture shows her subjects in relationship to objects around them. The women are photographed in the environment of their jobs — with tools, engines and vehicles nearby. Unlike the busty, blond-haired babes in typecast pinup calendars, these women seem to know exactly what to do with the tools they hold, which is well communicated in the photos.

The Wind in Your Hair: Vintage Motorcycles is generously sponsored by Stuart Mitchell, the Arthur K. Smith Family Foundation and Dr. Kenneth and Shelly Zegart.

About the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981. Its mission is to promote and support art and craft excellence in Kentucky. The Museum is supported in part by the Fund for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council, a state arts agency that supports the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft through the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. It is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment. Admission is $5 for adults, free for KMAC members, students and children under 12. For more information, please call 502.589.0102 or log on to www.KentuckyArts.org.