Pedaling in Portland

LRBC wall
Originally uploaded by Katherine H.

Searching for something fun to do that will allow you to savor the summer sun that has finally arrived? May I suggest visiting some of the local cafes and coffee shops that are currently hosting the Cycle Seen art exhibit. There are nine locations, and the exhibits will be up through July 2nd.

I first found out about this effort through a chance visit to the Art Institute of Portland where a flyer announced an open call for submissions that depicted the bike culture around Portland.

I hastily looked through my photo files at home, and selected five from last year's Pedalpalooza festival. Not familiar with such a festival? Well, they like to tout it as 2+ weeks of bikey fun with a calendar of over 200 events. There's a ride to suit everyone's tastes. A quick perusal of tomorrow's events yields a tandem bike race, a zombie cycle rampage, and a NoPo bike in movie just to provide a sampling of the bicycling craziness that feeds off of Portland culture.

I was surprised by an email a few weeks later indicating that two of my photos had been selected for inclusion, and then just plain excited when I received my artist's packet and learned that one of my photos would be hanging at the Little Red Bike Cafe.



The LRBC is owned by Ali and Evan, the kind of local business you'd wish would open up in your neighborhood (they have a bike-up window, for heaven's sake!), and root for to prosper and thrive. I became a fan of the blog they keep about the cafe before I was ever able to visit it. And since I live out of town, it keeps me up to date and salivating about the new ice cream flavors they're creating like Salted Caramel with Candied Bacon Bits and Burnt Orange Honey Blossom. Yum!

My second photo is hanging at Stumptown Coffee Roasters on SE Division Street.



I was able to stop by and see the installed exhibit last Saturday, and let me tell you, this is the one not to miss! I am honored to have my amateur snapshot hanging amongst such talent.



Stumptown is also the location of the pieces that will be auctioned off in support of Bikes to Rwanda, a local nonprofit whose mission is to provide cargo bicycles for farmers in Rwanda to help them meet basic needs and improve their quality of life.

I just might be tempted to bid on one those photos myself!