JON HELGASON/Arizona Daily Wildcat Jennifer Nichols lights candles on a chandelier made completely of bike gears and chains.

When it starts to crumble, knock it down and rebuild it anew ÷ that's the American way. Or you can be a rebel and choose to believe there's something beautiful about old, beat up things. Newer is not always better, and junk is often the best. That's the idea behind BICAS, or Bicycle Inter Community And Salvage, a local non-profit organization that may seem like some bizarre bicycle cult, yet whose ideology is anything but crazy ÷ in fact, it's a pretty smart little organization.

BICAS promotes the recycling of bicycles and bicycle awareness. Their bicycle culture is built upon the idea that the bicycle is, in itself, a work of art. And this Sunday is their annual BICAS Art Auction, an event that will feature art made from recycled bicycle parts.

BICAS began as a youth-based organization that taught children how to build new bicycles from old used parts. In the ten years since BICAS first set up shop, the organization has grown to become much more, evolving from a bicycle school to an art community.

"It's great to sport your own crazy creation," said Lisa Sturdivant, who made her bike at BICAS a couple years back.

"Everyone at BICAS has maintained that building your own bicycle is, in itself, art. We have all these old bicycles and you basically have a blank slate to start and build whatever you want," said BICAS worker Jen Nichols. "They've always pushed for it to be considered art in itself just to work on your bicycle."

This bond between bicycle and art is what led to the evolution of the organization. Today, you will find a complete metalworks extension where Allen the welder is welding away, creating and helping others create metal sculptured art from bike parts.

The colorful trash cans and bike racks on Fourth Avenue are an example of some of the public art that BICAS has on display around Tucson. Or go to Full Cycle bicycle/coffee shop on East Speedway Blvd. and you'll see the funky tables BICAS constructed from skeletal bicycle remains.

"It's been about a year since the idea of the art space got started and more about doing metalworks-type projects, teaching the community how to do them and getting more of an emphasis on recycled art in general ÷ not just bike parts," Nichols said.

This Sunday is the seventh-annual art auction, an event that has gotten bigger and bigger each year. How it works is that anyone in the community is welcome to go down to BICAS and pick out used parts from a big cart and make their own art project to sell at the auction. The money raised at the auction is not considered profit, but will be put directly back into organization to aid in its growth.

Popular items made from the dead bike limbs are jewelry, robots, lamps, tables and chairs. And in addition to all the wacky artwork, there will be food and bands and visiting artists.

"It's a really big community thing. It's really exciting," said Serena Tang, another BICAS worker.

"(The Art Auction) has been an even-handed exchange in that I think a lot of the community thinks it's a real privilege to be asked to make something," Nichols said. "It's a way for us to get people to contribute things even when they don't have a lot of money to give us."

BICAS is located at 44 W. Sixth Street. The auction starts at sundown on Sunday evening and runs until 10.