By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 16, 2011

Constrained Chaos is coming to Northeast.

It’s not a heavy metal band or a new group of protestors. It’s a bike rack that spans nearly 17 feet long and 10 feet wide and resembles a modern piece of art.

In February, the Northeast Community Leadership Action Team (NCLAT) asked local artists to submit bike rack designs with trash receptacles that will be installed throughout Historic Northeast. The concept is part of NCLAT’s “Less Trash is More Art” community beautification project to keep Northeast clean and attract more tourists to the area.

“It’s about public art,” NCLAT member Rebecca Koop said. “Northeast needs to be put on the map. It’s the oldest neighborhood in Kansas City and we need to start something here again.”

When 24-year-old Beth Nybeck heard about the call to artists, she submitted a number of designs, including “Constrained Chaos.”

“I wanted to create something that was not just a bike rack, but a sculpture, something that people could interact with and enjoy as a piece of art,” Nybeck said.

Asked to explain the meaning behind Constrained Chaos, she said, “It’s about energy. It’s about movement. It’s about ideas and thoughts and a brain explosion, but kind of constrained if you will. It’s how I feel a lot of times.

“In a broader sense, it can be related to how we live our lives as a society and the constant ebb and flow of movement and chaos and how it can be a mess and still be beautiful at the same time.”

This isn’t Nybeck’s first project. A recent graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, this visual arts major has created sculptures throughout the U.S. Her most recent major project can be seen at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. Called “Flight of Ideas,” the suspended sculpture is located inside the airport and includes a flock of 21 birds. The largest bird has a 15-feet wingspan. Within the wings of each stainless steel bird is a different colored plastic aviation map.

“It’s really about the history of flight,” she said.

America’s first glider airplanes were created by studying the flight of birds, she said.

“Those people who dare to dream big have changed and shaped our world that we live in. That’s the underlying concept of the whole project,” she said.

Although she designed the “Flight of Ideas” project, she didn’t work alone. She instilled the help of her boss, Dick Jobe, owner and founder of Machine Head, 715 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Mo.

“He’s a machine tool technician extraordinaire,” she said.

For 11 years, Jobe has operated Machine Head and his projects have ranged from sculptures in Kansas City to business logos to plaques to fire sculptures, among others. He also created a replica of an old drill press, which is now located in the Wright Brothers Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

Jobe said they worked on Constrained Chaos for 200 hours over a three-week period and the rack contains 260 feet of stainless steel tubing.

“It was fairly complicated, a lot of twists and turns,” Jobe said. “But, as we started building it, it took on a life of its own and really came out better than we thought it was ever going to.”

Constrained Chaos will be installed at Concourse Park this week and a public unveiling ceremony will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, near the flag pole at 200 S. Benton Blvd.

“I think the community is going to have a lot of fun with it,” Nybeck said, “and hopefully, it’s going to draw more people to the area.”