“The Art of Riding” was the name for Trailnet’s bicycle ride today. Like last month’s Tweed Ride, this was one of Trailnet’s free community rides. Also like the Tweed Ride this event came with an art accent. Unlike the Tweed Ride, we didn’t visit any art museums today. Instead, we visited a series of five public art works and also got to meet with their creators. The ride began at the Regional Arts Commission on Delmar. The yarn bombed bike was there. Like the Tweed Ride, this was a guided group ride, with a mass start. We had about 35 riders.
We headed to the Central West End for our first rendezvous. It was at the Central Reform Congregation Synagogue on Kingshighway. The Tikuum sculpture there was the only non-bike related art form on the day’s agenda. Still, it was an interesting artwork and having the artist there explain it made it even more exciting. In the Grove neighborhood we made two stops and met two muralists. The first, Peat Eyes, had prepared a demonstration for us. He and a partner were painting a mural across the street from the one pictured. His signature motif is eyes. When he removed the stencil that he had been working on while talking with us, the assembled crowd gasped in awe at the array of eyes that literally popped off that brick wall. Ms. Mccammond wasn’t as dynamic a speaker as the first two artists, but what she lacked in speaking ability, she has more than made up with in productivity. By her own estimation 80% of the Grove’s murals are hers. The final artist made a pair of tree hugging sculptures, with bikes, in the Shaw neighborhood. Her artwork is highly organic. She was pleased with the deterioration of her work that weathering has wrought.
The ride looked like it was going to end about then and we had other places to be and people to see, so we struck out on our own. We hit both the Taste of Maplewood and the Richmond Heights art fair. We met many friends and neighbors at both venues. Today was a day where everyone seemed to be out and about on a bicycle.