Hacksaw to perfection

#17 – Tuesday July 12th

The pART project is on. To review the parameters of the project, 50 artists will be making sculptures out of bike parts supplied by SRAM. These sculptures will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to support the programs of World Bicycle Relief. My parts arrived last week and to me, in their anodized glory, they are amazing . . . more jewelry than pieces of bicycles.  To say I’m attracted to bikes is a bit of an understatement. Yes I do love to ride, but I also love the bike as a machine and riding and wrenching on my bikes is a little slice of perfection. So here I have a box of perfect parts, but when it comes to my own object making, my  aesthetic leans toward what has been used. I want to see and feel the history of that use and abuse, and I almost wish I had the opportunity to install these parts on one of my bikes, ride them, beat and bash them. . . and in that sense demystify them. Just to clarify, I’m a dyed in the wool mountain biker and riding on dirt is just hard on bikes, and the first dent or scratch in a new bike is like an arrow to the heart . . . but then it’s . . . thank God that’s over, now I can just go ride. So the first thing I did was hack one of these big Boxxer front suspension stanchions apart, and now the real fun begins . . . my pART project ride. Yahoo!

Art, bikes, and dogs, and that dog is our Molly Teardrop. Miss Molly turns 6 months old this week, which is a bit of a canine milestone, and Molly doesn’t disappoint. Yes, at some point in every day she runs around like her brain is on fire, but mostly she behaves like she’s more mature than her young age might suggest, for which we are ever thankful. So to celebrate her 1/2 year birthday, a photo of Molly on our hike this morning, sitting on the biggest rock on the trail. (Molly likes to be up high!)

Bits and pieces. Where does it all start? The inspiration for this canvas came from simply looking up through the trees, mid-morning light streaming through, and thinking of swimming in green . . . then diving in.

Thanks for reading.

Charles