Combining Her Passions For Pedaling And Painting

Perhaps it's because I've lived in New York most of my life: For me, bicycling and public art have become more and more intertwined.

These days, however, one doesn't have to go to biketopias like Portland or Amsterdam or art havens like Paris or New York to experience murals, large sculptures or installations during a ride.  It seems that smaller 'burgs are getting in on the idea of combining the two.  I think it has to do with increasing numbers of artists living and working outside of the traditional creative capitals for any number of reasons (not the least of which is the cost of studio space, supplies, or simply feeding and housing one's self) and cycling becoming a transportation option and recreation choice for many more people.

Among the communities that are bringing cycling and art together are the city of Kalamazoo and its eponymous Michigan county.  To that end, Bike Friendly Kalamazoo commissioned a mural that is going up along Lovers Lane, a popular cycling route in the city of Portage.

Photo by Dan Nichols for WWMT

The very colorful 17-by-58 foot image is being painted by local artists and is slated to be finished by the 15th of this month.  On that day, a public engagement will be held for the families that helped to paint it.

For the creator of the mural, Ellen VanderMyde, working on this project combines her passions for pedaling and painting.  She grew up in Portage and "grew up cycling this path" and hopes that people will ride to the mural to see it in person.

"We wanted to express the joys of cycling," explained Bicycle Friendly Kalamazoo President Paul Selden.  He hopes that "everybody who sees it would maybe want to get on a bicycle and if not maybe give those who are on bicycles a little more space on the road."

He also hopes to have another mural completed this year and that it, along with the work in progress, will be the beginning of more such installations. 

As far as I am concerned, public works of art readily visible to cyclists--whether or not those works are bicycle-themed--are  part of a city's cycling infrastructure.  If nothing else, I'd rather see a mural or a sculpture while I'm riding than risk my bike or my self on a poorly-conceived, -built or -maintained bike lane.

  

Starry Bike Path?

I know I've posed more than a few ridiculous questions, on this blog and away from it.  I seem to have a penchant for them.  So here comes another:  If Vincent Van Gogh were to design a bike lane, what would it look like?

My question isn't, I believe, as frivolous or flippant as it might seem.  I've long felt that we are more sensitive to light and color when we're pedaling. (At least, I feel that I am.)  That might be a reason why cycling and photography go so well together, and why any number of riders I've known (including current riding buddy Bill) are fine photographers.  

I also have another reason for my question:  There is actually a Van Gogh bicycle path in the Dutch town of Nuenen, where Vincent (Yes, I'm on a first-name basis with him! ;-))worked from 1883 until 1885. During that time, he completed The Potato Eaters, one of his early masterpieces.

Interestingly, the path is more evocative of a later and better-known masterpiece of his.  I am talking about Starry Night, which has inspired all sorts of other work--including the only Don McLean song besides "American Pie" most people can name.  

To me, the path is a work of art in its own right.  Although the swirls and colors in it echo Vincent's painting, it has a different effect:  The painting is its own dynamic, while the environment of the path creates its plays of light and color.  

The path, designed by artist Daan Roosegarrd, is paved with colored stones that are charged in daylight and emit twinkling light--mostly in blue and green--at night.  When so lit, the path displays parts of the painting as you ride on, or look at, it.

From what I've read and heard, the Van Gogh path has turned Nuenen, near Eindhoven, into an atrraction, if not a destination, for tourists.  While it contains several homages to its most famous resident, most Van Gogh pilgrimages include Arles, the Provencal town where he painted Starry Night, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.  Only those who are really in the know about the artist make a detour to Nuenen, whose other distinction is that it was the site of a battle in the significant, but unsuccessful (for the Allies) Operation Market Garden in World War II.

Some folks thousands of kilometers away believe that they can help to continue the revitalization of their city by capturing Nuenen's lightning (all right, light) in a bottle.  It's a "rust belt" city in the US that, like a few others, has sought to revitalize itself by using its history and culture to create a vibrant arts scene.  

In other words, Hamilton is trying to do what a much larger city at the other end of Ohio--Cleveland--has been doing.  Other cities in that part of the United States, like Grand Rapids, Michigan and Milwaukee, have had recent success in stemming, at lest in part, economic decline wrought by the relocation or disappearance of manufacturing industries.





In such cities, as well as in neighborhoods like Bushwick, Brooklyn, the emphasis has been on public art, like sculpture and murals, that can make use of industrial sites and structures as a backdrop, or as material for the works themselves.

Something like the Van Gogh bike path would fit such communities, especially one like Hamilton, which has a very popular bike/walking path along the Miami River.  It also just happens to pass the Fitton Center for the Creative Arts and a sculpture garden.  Wade Johnston, the director of Tri-State Trails, thinks it would be a great spot for a similar sort of path--or, at least one where "public art and beautiful landscaping" could "promote a sense of place" and--not insignificant to city leaders--"encourage reinvestment in Hamilton."

As much as I love art, I am enough of a realist to acknowledge that the arts can't replace high-wage factory jobs.  But, as neighborhoods like Bushwick and cities like Cleveland (once the butt of jokes, many of which referred to a river that caught fire) have shown, the arts can provide other opportunities and encourage talented, creative people to live and work in areas other people abandoned.