Little Mike's Workshop

I call him Little Mike, but I'm sure he's had more colourful nicknames over the years.  I joke about him being little - he's not.  He's built like a rock and I always remind him not to crush my hand when we shake.  An eclectic character, Mike.  A graduate of Canterbury which is a The creative arts high school in Ottawa, a former professional boxer and owns a couple of Triumph motorcycles.   His business is custom steel fabrication.  Although the term "custom" doesn't really describe the kind of art he creates. Just ask him and his eyes light up and next, he's scrolling through images on his phone to show you some of his work.

I met him in my role designing the new streetscape for the Bank Street reconstruction. Tim Desclouds had won the public art competition and in coordinating with Tim, I met Mike who was fabricating the sculptures.  When I stopped in recently there was the beginning of a large tree sculpture that Tim is working on with Mike for the Bronson Avenue streetscape.

The workshop is a fascinating place.  A little different each time I visit depending on what is being worked on and the way they have arranged the tools to work on that project. Lots more there to draw.  Thanks Mike.

Bank Street Tree Guard

Over the last few years I was the landscape architect for the 3km long Bank Street reconstruction project.  The Glebe section was largely completed in 2011, but the street furniture and public art sort dribbled together over this summer.

Most of the tree guards on Bank Street are simple pickets.  We designed special panels to give them stronger contextual identity, but apparently someone decided to delete those elements.    The one in the sketch was designed by Tim  Desclouds, the project artist and fabricated by Mike Milligan.
It is located on Clemow, just east of Bank Street and incorporated the thematic chair which is the common aspect of all the sculptures.

The tree is a Liberty Elm.  This is a hybrid elm which is resistant to Dutch Elm disease and was selected for it's eventual vase like form and heritage character as elms were once the dominant street trees of Ontario main streets.

Little Mike's Mean Bike

So I'm being extremely cheeky to nick-name Mike.  Mike Milligan is a former professional boxer who owns a successful welding shop and is built like an anvil.  I met him through Tim desClouds as he was the guy who put together Tim's wonderful Bank Street suite of sculptures.

On to the bike.  It started out in 2001 as a Triumph. Mike put some serious miles on it and then he started to tinker.  The seat, the headlamp, the battery holder, the fenders, the foot pegs, the little boxing glove as the fuel petcock,.....you get the idea.   It's a study in black and really challenging to draw, much less paint.  I don't have a motorcycle, in fact I don't even look like a guy who could ride one, but this beast is way cool.  My butt was sore after pedaling my wimpy little bicycle for a couple of hours last weekend, so I can't imagine hitting a pothole at 120km/hr on the steel seat of this bad boy.  But then again, I never entered the ring to make a living.

footnote: Steve McQueen's bike in The Great Escape - Triumph,  Marlon Brando in The Wild One - Triumph, Bob Dylan - Triumph