If you've driven by the Easton Area Community Center in the last few months, you've probably noticed the white shape on the roof over the entrance.

"So many people would come by and say 'When's the unveiling?'" said center Director Anita Mitchell.

In fact, what people were looking at was a work by artist Emil Lukas, what he calls a "site specific installation." He took seven bicycles, and covered them in plastic, as part of Lafayette College's Art of Urban Environments program.

"And it worked pretty well," said Lukas, of Stockertown. "It stayed up for a long time, and the bikes were nice and safe."

It was Friday afternoon, and the installation was coming down, so that the bikes could become part of the community center, donated to its children for their annual bike safety program.

The bikes came from Genesis Bicycles of Easton, which sold them to Lukas at cost, said Lafayette spokeswoman Kathleen Parrish.

Dozens of kids -- gathered at the center Friday for its Christmas party -- took time to listen to Lukas talk about the importance of recycling, even when it comes to bikes.

One boy asked Lukas the best way to get a bike. Lukas told him: Learn to build one on your own.

There were a lot of "Ewwwww"s when the artist suggested the kids dig through the trash, but he told them that's how they might end up building a really great bike: from the remnants of two or three discarded ones.

Lukas said the center helped give him the idea for his installation. He was there one day, and some kids were working on a bike-related program. Then a young girl drove by, and he told her how to shift so she could ride up hill.

"Bikes kept coming up as a theme," he said.