Cycling Art Route Along the Waters in Groningen-Zuid and Haren.

Everyone knows the classic depiction of Lady Justice, the personification of justice: she is usually depicted as a blindfolded figure in classical robes, with a sword in her right hand and a scale in her left hand.

Alex Jacobs gave his own interpretation of Lady Justice. His Fair Maiden is a feisty high-heeled woman in tight trousers and a fitted coat. In her right hand she firmly holds a sword, while her blue eyes stare intently into the distance. The stack of law books under her left foot shows that she is strict but fair; she listens to the letter of the law.

The Fair Maiden is made of bronze that has been treated with a colorful layer of yacht lacquer. For Jacobs, the diversity of colors in the pedestal symbolizes society.

Walking along the dike along the Paterswoldseweg there is a beautiful view over the Piccardthofplas. The path ends at a 'lookout post': a ring of corten steel with a diameter of 25 meters. Nine plane trees in the interior of the ring give the artwork a roof of greenery. The circle is opened in two places by three-meter-high entrance gates. A steep staircase leads down the dike via one of these gates.

In terms of use of materials and monumentality, Roestplek ('Rust Spot') is consistent with the next work of art here on the route, Light Screen, which is placed on the other side of the road, along the Piccardthofplas. That is not surprising, because both works were made by Noud de Wolf.

The Piccardthofplas, a natural monument, is populated by large numbers of birds. The highway along the water can act as a disturbance for the birds, especially when it is dark, which are attracted to the light of the headlights. Noud de Wolf's artwork functions as a screen that catches the light.

De Wolf designed a 200-meter-long screen of 92 plates that catch the light from the cars. The plates consist of four sizes. A series of four plates are always placed one behind the other in size, the fifth is turned over so that the next series is a mirror image. This method of installation creates a wavy movement (like the water behind the light screen) that is reinforced by the gentle S-bend in which the Corten steel is rolled. The undulation, the earth color of the steel and the gravel between the plates make the artwork a natural filter between the tranquility of the water surface and the dynamics of city life.

Along the Paaipad at the Piccardthofplas you find Vogelkijkspot (‘Bird Viewing Spot’). It's made on behalf of Natuurmonumenten and the nearby Martini Hospital, with the aim of allowing patients and visitors to the hospital, but also local residents, to enjoy the bird-rich lake. The openings in the corten steel screen provide a panoramic view of the Piccardhofplas, where there is plenty to see all year round. Kingfishers, hawks and reed warblers raise their young at the lake, and in winter thousands of ducks reside on the deep lake, which does not quickly freeze over.

In the 1970s, the American architect John Hejduk (1929-2000) designed several Wall Houses, including Wall House #2. It was originally intended as a country retreat for the landscape architect Arthur Edwin Bye, who wanted to have it built on a site near Ridgefield (Connecticut, USA). It would just never rise there; almost 6,000 kilometers away it did: on September 6, 2001, Wall House #2, the only Wall House design by Hejduk that was ever realized, opened on the Hoornsemeer.

Central to the design is an enormous wall of 18.5 meters wide and 14 meters high, on which the various rooms are suspended. At the same time, this wall connects the rooms with each other. The entrance is not at the front, but at what is perceived as the rear of the building.

Since 2016, Wall House #2 has been managed by the Groninger Museum. It is open to the public every weekend from April to October and various exhibitions and activities are organized in the building. For more information, see Wall House #2 | Groningen Museum.

The blue and mint green colored conical 'beacons' are located at the transition from water to land and on the border of the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. One of the cone shapes balances on its tip and spouts water. The other is illuminated in the dark by a neon rainbow. During the day, one might think of ice cream when seeing the images. In the evening, however, the perceived value of the work of art is completely different; the 'earthly' sound of falling water from one image finds its counterpart in the 'cosmic' neon light of the other image.

Around 1983, artist Bastiaan de Groot made a series of statues consisting of two pieces of stone. The Meeting belongs to this series of images. Two colossal stones are placed on top of each other and on the one hand radiate 'connectedness', but on the other hand the image evokes tension because it seems as if the bottom stone is barely holding up under the weight of the top stone.

This artwork by Auke de Vries consists of two steel sculptures standing on concrete, 9 and 11 meters high. They reach into the air like two drawn lines that end in a kind of diamond shape. De Vries describes them as “forms with an archaeological value”. According to him, they are reminiscent of the visual language of ancient Egypt.

De Vries' work is based on observations of reality. He bases his abstract spatial works on photographs and sketches of the natural and urban environment.

The Bench, also called Mother Earth, is carved from a single block of marble. Its more or less round finish gives the sofa something comfortable and invites you to sit or lie down. The curves and the uneven seat - of the lower and higher parts - give the sofa a human shape. As if the artist is resting a reclining figure in the stone bench.

According to maker Bastiaan de Groot, the artwork from 1983 is in keeping with the karacter of the Hoornse Meer nature and recreation area with its cycling and walking paths, bridges and picnic areas.

Another work by Bastiaan de Groot on this route, like the other two, made in 1983. The Hand Ax is a two and a half meter high work of art that stands on a raised lawn. When creating the work, the artist was inspired by prehistoric hand axes. The enormous chunk of stone, which stands upright in the ground like a megalith, evokes a prehistoric atmosphere.

[Best view on this work is from point 12 on this route.]

Near the oldest access road from the south to the city of Groningen is the electricity pylon with seven metal 'flames' on it, which form the cycle of the week. A flame is lit on the first day of the week and one is added every day. The number 10.40 lights up on the mast at twenty minutes to eleven in the evening. This is a reference to the year 1040 in which the city of Groningen is mentioned in a deed for the first time.

The work is part of the Stadsmarkeringen ('City Markers') project, that marked 950 years of Groningen. Architect Daniel Libeskind made a master plan for nine city markers at Groningen's main access roads, plus a tenth at the Martinikerkhof. Libeskind is an internationally acclaimed architect, known for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Holocaust Names Monument in Amsterdam and One World Trade Center in New York.

From this point on the Hoornsedijk you have a good view of Stadsmarkering S01 Gate Tower Clio by Kurt W. Forster (1935 - 2024).

The walls of this bicycle and walking tunnel under the A28, as well as the walls of the nearby bus shelter (bus shelter) along the A28, are fully covered with street art. A large number of images have been painted on the green-painted north wall of the tunnel: mussel-shaped eyes, variations on color circles and black silhouettes of animals and plants. Series of arrows, stripes and bars have been applied to the blue surface of the south wall, as well as black silhouettes of skating young people and various skylines of Haren and Groningen.

The graffiti artists Michel Velt, Roman de Laporte (alias Jack Lack), Quinten van Duuren, Elroy Gramsbergen and Alex Tjoelker were inspired for the design by the green character of Haren on one side of the tunnel, and the Paterswoldse lake on the other. other side.

Two larger images decorate the entrances to the tunnel near the staircase. At the entrance to the shelter a scooter with a cat (by Jack Lack), at the entrance to the stairs to the P&R a large portrait of a young woman (by Michel Velt).

The Gate for Haren is located at Het Transferium on the entrance to the A28. In this dynamic environment in which the hustle and bustle of commuter traffic is dominant, the meter-high statue is as unemphatic as it is unyielding. Like a benchmark in space. In the artwork, the brass and granite shapes slide into each other, leaving room for openings. This transparency creates views that change depending on the direction from which the passing motorist comes. Moving, connecting and marking are important themes in the work of Herman Bartelds.

Johan Parmentier en zijn vrouw Tini Parmentier-Niemeijer verhuisden daarop naar Haren, waar het beeld bij hen in de tuin kwam te staan. Toen ze in 2000 naar serviceflat Maarwold gingen, verhuisden de zittende figuren mee. Tegenwoordig is het beeld in eigendom van Maarwold.
In the park at the entrance of the Maarwold service flat, three stone figures sit in a circle, clearly in a harmonious connection. The harmony depicted is a very specific one: the image symbolizes the mutual cooperation between management, management and staff of the former Parley wool spinning mill Textielfabriek of N.V. Johan Parmentier in Dokkum.

The statue was a gift from sixteen companies that contributed to the new construction of the factory in Dokkum in 1963. For a long time, around 200 people were employed here, until the Dutch textile industry broke down and Parmentier had to close its doors in 1981.

A more than ten meter high blue steel tree – an abstracted representation of a water cypress – and a hornbeam enter into a relationship with each other; In the summer the blue steel and the living wood wrap themselves in green foliage, only to take a 'bare' distance from each other again in the winter months. The choice for the representation of a water cypress was inspired by the presence of one such type of tree on the southern verge of Emmalaan. Artist Willem van der Schalie chose to include this only so-called pine tree in a deciduous tree on the north side of Emmalaan.

On the terrace of the Sassenhein pavilion is a concrete statue of a man who looks out over the Sassenhein water-rich nature reserve from a high artificial granite pedestal. The statue represents Hein Aalderink (1853-1939). Aalderink and his wife Saskia bought the former peat extraction area with so-called petgaten (peat ponds) in 1909 and made a strong case to use it for fishing. In order to be able to fish for carp here in a responsible manner, the Groningen Hengelclub, now called HC Sassenhein, was founded in 1909.

In their will, the couple, whose names are immortalized in the name of the nature reserve (Sas-en-Hein), stated that this area would remain as it was: an inviting nature, fishing and recreational area.

At the last point of this route there is a work on which you can rest: a monumental memorial bench, on which a granite relief adorns the right. Sitting you look out over the watery Sassenhein nature reserve in Haren. The relief shows the calm face of a middle-aged man: Douwe Barkmeijer. When this work from August 22, 1959 is unveiled, Barkmeijer has just resigned from his position as treasurer at the Sassenhein Fishing Association. He has been involved in the association as a board member for no less than 38 years. The Association donates the bench, with the relief by the hand of Veendammer sculptor Ter Reegen, to Sassenhein in honor of Barkmeijer's tireless efforts for the nature reserve and fishing.