Artcrank Artist Profile: Dana Maier

ARTCRANK, the poster party for bike people comes to DC November 8th. Leading up to the show we chat with local artists about their work and riding in D.C. 

Meet Dana Maier a Columbia Heights based artist. 

"I use Bikeshare to ride to the Metro, the gym, run errands, meet friends...it's rare that I don't use it at least once a day. Biking in DC is one of my favorite things to do, particularly in the autumn. " 

Dana has been working in D.C. for six years. "My drawings tend to start observationally, so I'm always incorporating the stuff I see in the city into my work. Also, I am more of a classic DC Type A personality than I feel comfortable admitting."

Dana's preferred medium is pen and ink. She sketches her piece titled "The Bikerack," which will be screenprinted as a poster for next weeks show. "I learned (or relearned, rather) that it's always best to draw from what's right in front of you, rather than try to draw from something you see in a book or on a screen. " 

Connect with Dana via danajerimaier.com and @danajerimaier on twitter and instagram. 

Brianna Lane Live at BicycleSPACE

Live at BicycleSPACE, Minneapolis singer-songwriter Brianna Lane headlines cycling bag-maker Banjo Brothers Tiny Bikeshop Concert. Inspired by All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Concerts, the Tiny Bikeshop concert series brings intimate concerts to local bike shops around the country. We chat with Brianna about life as a musician and a cyclist.

All-City Demo Tour: Crossmania DC

When we started planning for All-City's demo day in DC, there was some debate over where we would have the demo, since within the District it's pretty tough to find interesting rideable off road trails that you can make into a loop. My favorite spot, Ft. Totten, has been my go-to place to practice for cross season, but to be honest, I like keeping the little trails there a secret, and I was afraid of blowing up the spot.

But to care is to share, so it really wasn't much a debate. Ft. Totten has grassy fields with trees you can wind around, a short gravel road, and even some singletrack trails through the forest: all conditions you would find in a typical cyclocross course. And upon further reflection, its hidden-gem nature is part of what All-City is about, so Ft. Totten ended up as the perfect staging ground to test the latest dirt-friendly steeds from All-City.

And All-City did not disappoint with their new cyclocross and dirt options:

The Space Horse, our favorite all-rounder bike, got a new color: British Racing Green, which is simply goregous in the sunlight. The venerable Natureboy single speed cyclocross bike got a disc update for this season, for better stopping power and modulation. The very limited (only 150 made), and very fun JYD is new territory for All-City. It's not quite a mountain bike, not quite a street bike, but somewhere in between, and a whole lot of fun.

Of special note is the Macho King, Limited Edition. Our shop is one of the lucky vendors to recieve one of the fifty Macho Kings LTD in the world, and boy are we lucky. If you've never ridden ultra-high quality steel with a nice carbon fork, you are missing out. This is one smooth ride. And that paint job? Don't even get me started.

Wilson and myself, both All-City devotees, got all excited and All-City'ed out and rode our Space Horse and Nature Boy to the demo course. 

The BicycleSPACE macho man himself, Phil, took to a Macho Man Disc to charge through the woods. Those logs didn't stand a chance.  

We made some PVC barrier to further simulate a 'cross course setup. Jake, a competitive 'cross racer himself, showed us how it was done, dismounting his bike and running over the barriers without losing any momentum. Wilson won the award for most jaunty hop over the barriers, as seen above. 

Lots of orange blurs through the park. The Macho Man Disc and its various iterations, The Macho King, and Macho King LTD, were the crowd favorites. 

For most of our demo riders this was their first taste of cross, and at the end of each lap they were breathing hard and smiling harder. Nothing but good times in the woods.

One thing I really love about the All-City bikes is that they have internally-routed cabling for the rear brake. Not only is it an aesthetically nice touch that gives the bike a cleaner look and distinguishes it from similar bikes, but it makes shouldering the bike a little more pleasant. In cyclocross, you end up shouldering your bike quite a bit, so for 'cross a clean top tube makes a big difference. 

Who says steel bikes can't be snappy and responsive? Not Grace: Grace was so stoked by the nimbleness of the Macho King she couldn't stop talking about it all night. If someone wants to make her year, they'd get her a 46 Macho King. Just sayin'.

Another nice touch that sets All-City apart: signature singlespeed track dropouts featuring the iconic Hennepin Bridge of Minneapolis. 

Thanks to Adam from All-City for bringing the demo fleet to DC; we had a blast getting all aboard the 'cross train!

We're thinking about making cyclocross rides at Ft. Totten a more regular thing. Interested in doing some weekly cross rides? Let us know in the comments. 

Nicole's Raleigh Superbe

Nicole picks up her freshly restored 1962 Raleigh Superbe. Jerry has a passion for this style and it's always a labor of love breathing new life into these old bikes. See what goes into a vintage bike overhaul and watch the master at work. 

Nicole had been riding a Marin mountain bike on her daily commute from Alexandria into the city. The bike was treating her well, but in her heart she wanted something with a little more style and panache. She was particularly attracted to vintage English bikes, such as mid-century Raleighs. When she found this used bike she brought it in to see if was worth fixing up. Jerry knew right away that beneath the decades of surface rust and neglect that she had real gem. 

These bikes are built to last. All the original parts were still intact and will work great after a thorough overhaul. First step is to completely disassemble the bike. 

Nicole's bike was missing the classic chrome fender tip. Jerry had a hunch one could be found at Velocity, a bike co-op in Alexandria, VA. Sure enough in there pile of donations bikes was a bent fender with a well preserved tip.

All the parts are disassembled and the frame is inspected for serviceability. According to Jerry, Sturmey Archer cones never seem to go bad. He's able to reuse all the old parts to get these hubs working like new. Everything is unpacked, degreased, cleaned and reassembled with fresh grease. 

Polished with ultra fine steel wool and batch of Jerry's secret sauce, this bike is looking as fresh as it was back in the sixties. 

Another mechanic of ours, Dave, lent a hand to get the electrical working. Even the head lamp was disassembled to be cleaned and polished, with special care not to scratch the lens. The signature Raleigh Crane shines proudly in the chainring. 

Thanks Nichole for coming to us with this project. It was great watching it all come together. Enjoy your stunning new (old) bike.

Story and Photos by Francis Tatem, Marketing Manager 

Our Ever Growing School Garden Tour

Our annual fall School Garden Tour takes a look at the ever-expanding network of school gardens in the District. Each school offers a proposal for a new project and the tour concludes with a vote to decide who receives the crowdfunded donations. Our first stop was Cleveland ES in Shaw. 

Sarah and Jasmine help manage the garden as well as a variety of related programs. At Cleveland ES 99% of the student body is eligible for free or reduced lunch and for most students this is one of the few places to access green open space. Every Wednesday is a Garden Market, where students run stands to learn business skills. 

We sampled some cream cheese made with chive, garlic, and radish from the garden. There is an emphasis on family and community involvement. Students can learn recipes to take home and share. They've hosted a pop-up restaurant with some of the garden edibles. Jasmine hopes to use donations for more signage incorporating art in the garden, as well as signs to display information in Spanish and English.  

We depart to our next stop, Tubman ES in Columbia Heights. 

Tubman ES's garden is 6 years old and all 500 students are involved. Together they have 12 raised beds, mostly of edibles. 

Garden Coordinator Rebecca plans to use funds to remove rodents and pests from the north side of the garden and install a pumpkin patch. 

We helped install signs painted by students and volunteers. The beds are class or grade assigned, which give students ownership over projects. 

Fresh tomatoes from the garden. Tubman ES has a number of garden-focused after school programs, such as their Cooking Club and Junior Gardeners for pre-k. 

Tubman ES has been compositing since the garden first began. Rebecca describes the steps taken on the newly designed bins to keep pests away. 

Ward 3 Council-member, Mary Cheh, has been a longtime proponent of programs like school gardens. In 2010 she helped author and introduce the Healthy Schools Act, a transformative piece of legislation that is influencing the way both Public and Charter Schools in District deal with issues such as "growing poverty, poor nutrition and environmental degradation." There is a strong emphasis on increasing access to nutritious locally sourced food. 

We head west to Adams Morgan, happy to have some neighborhood kids cheer us up the hill. 

Marie Reed ES on 18th Street was visited by Michelle Obama and other lawmaker's spouses as part of a focus on healthy schools. The garden has undergone some rebuilding recently. 

The team at Marie Reed ES: Amelia, with Food Corps. Carolyn, School Health Coordinator. Principal Katie Lundgren. Community member and volunteer Jeff. Lundgren, who's in her first year as Principal at Marie Reed, is proud to be part of the Monarch Sister School program. The program gives instruction on building butterfly-friendly gardens and allows them to Skype with a partner school in Mexico, the winter home of Monarch butterflies. Marie Reed donations would be used to construct a compost system.

Our ride leader, OSSE School Garden Specialist, Sam Ullery and his daugther Ophelia. Ullery oversees all 108 school gardens in the District, and Ophelia hands out snacks to ride participants at the stops. Garden programs grow every year. When we began these rides two years ago there were around 80. 

Our group heads back towards downtown for our final stop.

Aptly named, The Farm at Walk Jones Education Campus, a DC Public School pre-k to 8th grade, at 1125 New Jersey Ave NW, is one of the largest gardens in the district. 

The Farm is managed by Sarah, far left, and her team of volunteers at DC Greens. DC Greens is a teaching and training program focused on “connecting communities to healthy food.”  They offer monthly professional development workshops for school garden coordinators across the city. 

It once sat vacant for 10 years, but now The Farm can produce 3000 pounds of produce. Sarah's goal is to make the space as much about the community as the school by recruiting local volunteers and opening up the space for various markets and classes. 

The Farm is bustling with activity in the fall. Lots of community members drop by to volunteer. 

After dining in the outdoor classroom, our group voted for a project to fund. Marie Reed ES in Adams Morgan will receive all of our participants' donations to help create a compost system.

Thanks to Sam for his work managing the program, and to all the School Garden Coordinators in DC: enjoy the harvest!

Thanks to Whole Foods Market P Street and Chipotle for supporting this event.

Ed and Mary

Ed and Mary spent their first date on a 100 mile tandem ride and never looked back. Most recently they completed the Colorado High Country 1200k and the Paris-Brest-Paris. Cycling allows them to connect with the world around them.

Park(ing) Day 2014

One of our favorite days of the year, Park(ing) Day! This is an international movement to reclaim parking spaces in the name of public space, art, and community. Temporary parklets were set up all over the city.

Here on 7th street we once again installed a lounge outside our shop, complete with Phil's church pew, paintings by our mechanic Bernie, and of course cookies and lemonade. It's amazing what you can fit in a single space.

Did you make it to any other parklets in the city? Share your #parkingday photos with us on our instagram. 

Story and Photos by Francis Tatem, Marketing Manager

5x5 Ride Public Art Ride

5x5 is the city’s largest temporary art project, featuring work in every ward. This weekend, we created a group ride led by local artists to explore the various installations across the city. 

While our city is known for many traditional art institutions, such as the NGA pictured here on 4th street, it’s the growth of public art that is producing some of the most interesting and accessible works. 

Director of Hamiltonian Gallery, Amanda Jirón-Murphy, on the right, approaches the “Nonuments” site in SW. Hamiltonian Gallery is a U-street gallery focusing on contemporary emerging artists and hosted our post-ride reception. Rides like this one allow DC’s art community to connect and see new work being produced.  

Riders peer into Peep by Jonathan Fung. This shipping container contains thought provoking imagery that speaks to the plight of human trafficking. 

In Jennifer Wen Ma’s Portrait Garden, blackened flowers are part of an inked garden. When viewed from above, the flowers create a portrait of a SW community member. 

Modeled after wren nests, Cameron Hockenson’s Migration, addresses themes of gentrification and marginalized communities. 

From the artist: "Migration was constructed using pvc pipe, chicken wire, burlap, twine, manilla rope, wooden polls, wire, spray foam, house paint, zip ties, steel brackets, nuts, bolts, washers and bird seed."

Public art is perceived in many different ways. Unlike galleries, many people encounter public art by chance, rather than seek it out. This public setting affects the context in which the art is observed and considered. SW Civic Association President, Kael Anderson, above, speaks to the varying responses he gets from community members regarding the work. Fundamental questions like "what is art?", "is this trash... a nuisance?" are all raised. 

All of the works in this patch of SW were curated by Lance Fung. From here, we headed east to the Navy Yard.

This historic Naval building contained one of the grander installations.

Riders strolled into one of the few original buildings left in the Navy Yard. 

Glenn Kaino’s Bridge was modeled after the raised fist of Tommie Smith, the iconic athlete of the Mexico City Olympic games. 

From the artist’s representative: "[Bridge] speaks of the power of collective action, the responsibilities we have to others, and the idea that the rights we enjoy today were reached because of the path laid for us by those who came before” 

A vote for public art! Our group poses in front of Kota Ezawa’s Hand Vote, a testament to the ideal of democracy. The issue of DC statehood immediately became a topic of conversation. 

From the Navy Yard, we headed back towards Shaw, by way of NOMA. 

Marley Dawson’s Construction (T Street NW) was inspired by his childhood home in Australia. Marley’s father built their family homes from the ground up. “As soon as he finished building the house he was ready to move and build a new one” recalls Marley. 

Marley chose green to mimic chroma-key, the green screen effect in film and video. His construction was created as “a temporary structure built with a language of permanence on a city-owned block whose vacancy is regularly contested.”  

Our two awesome tour guides, Marley Dawson (left) with his work, and Calder Brannock (right), creator of the Adventure Residency Program. 

Calder's program finds new ways to bring artists and collectors together, such as road trips in a restored camper, where they plan, produce, and disseminate new work on site in response to the communities they visit. Brannock is particularly interested in the role of the curators in projects like 5x5. For him, the ability to curate a space and communicate a message is often more powerful than any one installation on it's own.  

Post ride reception: we check out the latest group show at Hamiltonian Gallery. 

Thanks to Calder, Marley, Amanda, Angie, and our ride marshals for putting together such a great ride. Bikes are the perfect vehicle to connect to your city and those around you. We hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into the world of our city’s art scene.

The 5x5 installations will be up through December. 

On Patrol

Russell of Cedar City Utah, has been coming to Interbike since its inception. He volunteers with IMBA’s National MTB Patrol to provide support and education on his local trails. Every year the NMBP comes to Interbike’s Outdoor Demo to run the various medic stations throughout Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada. 

Believe it or not, it gets hot out here in the desert. The patrollers stock up on plenty of water to hand out to grateful demo riders. 

Russel's Surly Moonlander is outfitted as a fully equipped first-aid bike. When he’s not working for the NMBP he likes to load up his bike for long trips with his dog. Bikes like this are great platforms for carrying supplies and navigating tough terrain. 

Later I'll discover a more practical reason to visit the first-aid tent myself. More on some overzealous riding and BicycleSPACE's adventures in the desert to come. 

By Francis Tatem, Marketing Manager 

2nd Annual DC Donut Crawl

What could be better than donuts and bikes? The 2nd Annual DC Donut Crawl took us to GBD in Dupont Circle, Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken downtown, and District Donuts pop-up near the 930 club.