By Hank Huber

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is presenting a summerlong public art display based on what is arguably the greatest invention ever—the wheel.

The venture is modeled after the popular “Herd about Buffalo” public art project, that made life-size plastic buffalos a common sight in the area last summer.

While “Herd about Buffalo” asked artists to transform plain white buffalo figures into personalized works of art , “Art on Wheels” allows much more freedom of expression.

The only requirements are that the displayed work has a “wheel” theme, and that it contains at least one recycled, reused, or found item.

About half of the works are sculptures, according to Project Director Wendy Attea Huntington, with planned attractions including a dinosaur made from recycled tires and a pyramid constructed of hubcaps.

Interactive trail of art

The geographical range of the art is much greater than in the “Herd” project and will directly include the region’s cultural or heritage sites. There are 57 sites which will host works, each one chosen for its permanent cultural contribution to the Buffalo-Niagara area.

The idea is to get people out to see the works and to realize that right behind the attraction is one of the great draws of the area. The sites include many well-known places such as the Buffalo Historical Museum and Kleinhans Music Hall, and stretch as far south as the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, Greycliff, in Derby and north to Niagara Falls.

Associate Director Tony Billoni said, “This is a temporary trail of art for people to follow.”

To make it easier and more fun to follow, a “passport” with a map to the sites and a page devoted to each location will be available for purchase at Wegman’s.

For each site visited, the passport holder will get a unique stamp from the host site. Passports with 50 or more stamps can be sent in for a prize.

Prizes will probably be some type of limited edition work of art not available anywhere else, Billoni said.

Art Cars

The stars of the show will be the “Art Cars,” 28 to 30 functioning, drivable cars altered through paint, sculpture, or a mix of both, to become the embodiment of “Art on Wheels.”

In addition, there will be six roving Art Cars that travel from site to site, promoting and adding visibility to the project. The cars can also be seen at local festivals such as the Taste of Buffalo, and the Allentown Art Fest.

The project runs from May until October, ending with a closing rally at the Buffalo Convention Center, where all the works can be viewed together, followed by a public auction of the art.

For more information, call (716) 878-3510, or visit www.artonwheels.org