Pam McKnight: August 2012

I have had two main focuses of activity this summer my art and my bike riding. They complement each other well as they each encompass different social, mental, and physical challenges and rewards. While I enjoy this diversity I was also pleased to find some unexpected overlap. It began when a friend who owns a local shop (Velomech) and the Boise Bicycle Project gifted me some old bike parts for my assemblage. I put together several bike related pieces for the Sun Valley Bike Festival and other local venues, figuring that they might prove popular in our bike loving town of Boise. I posted these on my blog and got an encouraging response from a blog buddy Rebeca who I recently visited in the Bay Area. She told me about an interesting event she had recently entered sponsored by Scram called pART a fundraiser for World Bicycle Relief. Not wanting to encroach on her space I inquired if the show was still open and Rebeca enthusiastically encouraged me to enter.

The more I researched the event, the more excited I got to be part of it. The mission statement for the event is;

(World Bicycle Relief serves people in underdeveloped regions of the world who suffer from lack of access to health care, education, and economic opportunity. With a bicycle you can travel four times farther, carry five times more, and save up to three hours a day in travel time (based on a 10-mile commute). So you can get to a doctor, to school, or to work faster and more safely. Doors closed by distance are now opened, as is the way to a better life. )

In addition to the chance to be part of this worthy project, there will be an auction / fundraiser in November held at a Chelsea theater in NYC that those accepted would be able to attend.

The more I learned about this exciting event the more I wanted to be a part of it, but I was late to the table and afraid I'd missed out. With nothing to lose I contacted the event coordinators about getting in at the last minute. To my delight I received this response.

Pam We have had a great response from artists. I had set this years show at 75 and we have decided to expand to 90 artists. I have three slots open and 10 requests pending. the deadline for accepting the invitation is Aug 1. I looked at your site and think you'd be an artist that could contribute a great deal to the quality and talent I want. So to make it short Your in!!!! I was impressed by your work and of course the bike pieces you are a must so thank you and thank Rebecca.

With this great news it is off to the races so to speak.

A week later I received a large box containing 100 bicycle parts donated by Sram.

It was like Christmas opening all the little packages!

In a separate box I received this gessoed hardboard. Though I would be using the backside and not the nice gessoed frontside.

I started playing around with the pieces seeing what would work. I decided on making a bike. I had to use at least 25 of the 100 bike parts.

Then had to decide on a background. I knew I wanted to use the bicycle chain. I was going to do a collage and use this painting of mine that is on a piece of canvas as the center of the collage.

First I had to gesso the board as I was using the un gessoed side.

I then scrapped the first idea and decided to do a whole painting on the board. Using the idea from the first painting but changing it up a bit. Doing a kind of Van Gough sky. Adding a gate to the fence and a path for riding the bike. Riding in Idaho we have a lot of these wooden gates to open and close to keep the cattle in.

Next was deciding on the frame color and treatment. I went with a Silver Sage Metallic that I bought for 50 cents because the package had been damaged. This color goes well will the bike parts.

The bike evolved as I played around with the parts. Some pieces had to be sawed in 1/2 to work.

After the painting was complete and the glue on the wheel parts and pedal pieces were dry I poured 2 part resin all over the painting and then laid the wheels and pedal into the resin.

After the resin cured for 72 hours, I glued down the rest of the bike , adding a gear and piece of glass for the sun.

The finishing touch was adding some brand name stickers to the bike...Sram, Rock Shox, Truativ, and Avid, all owned by the same company who is sponsoring this event. I am quite happy with the way the piece turned out.

I hope to be able to make it to the New York City Gallery Show/ pART Project fundraising event which will be held on Thursday, November 29th, 2012 at the Cedar Lake Theater in the West Chelsea Historic District in New York City.

I am considering teaching one of those step by step painting classes where you complete a painting in an hour or two. So yesterday I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of brushes, acrylic paint and 11 x 14 stretched canvas. Tonight after dinner at my sisters house it was decided that I would do a practice class. I thought it would be just my sisters that would want to participate but everyone wanted in on it! I had 7 students. From my 5 year old niece and 11 and 17 year old nephews, to my sisters and brother-in-law to my 76 year old mother! We set up a large folding table, chairs, paper towels, paints, water cups, plates for palettes and a still life. We started with the table line and went from there. It took an hour and 10 minutes. not including set up or clean up. All went well and fun was had by all!