Secret Art in Hartford

Sad?  Resigned?  Bored?

Freedom or security?

Day of the Dead

Ambling around the less traveled Hartford by foot and by bike, one finds amazing works of graffiti art.  The best pieces often the least accessible or exposed.  I find this really interesting.  It's as if those that wander off the beaten path in urban Hartford get rewarded with private viewing of secret art.  I'm thinking that wasn't necessarily the goal of the artist.  Most graffiti is put up without permission and under threat of vandalism and  trespassing charges.  Putting the piece up in a seldom used train tunnel gives the artist much more time than what could be slapped up on a visible overpass or abandoned building facing the street.  The artist has time to layer, add detail, and go large.  If they don't like something, they can fix it.

Another interesting aspect of graffiti art in Hartford and some other cities, is when the previously illicit art, honed in the shadows, becomes an accepted art form and finds its way onto buildings as advertising and decoration.  When graffiti is seen for the value it adds, instead of the value it detracts - and it can do both.  Park Street has several "legal" graffiti based signs and art, as does Homestead.  I recently came across a huge piece on Windsor Street.   Certain entrepreneurs, public organizations, and arts organizations have identified the talent and recognized the visual draw of well executed urban art.  Every time I pass Pelican on Park Street, the Sophia Maldonado work on the front of the building makes me want to get a tattoo, and someday I'll actually do it.

You may have seen these modified crosswalk signs around town.

Hartford has a little slice of Heaven for lovers of graffiti art.  Its actually called Heaven, and this legal graffiti zone / park is located just north of downtown Hartford.  If you haven't been there, you are missing a dynamic art hot zone.  Pieces may last a week, or several months.  There are small quirky works and stencils and huge sprawling burners and artworks taking up entire walls.  The Hartford Graffiti ride that I'm doing on Friday, July 19th starts (@ 7:30PM) and ends at Heaven.  If you show up, make sure you bring fat tires, pumps, and spare tubes.

*** The Hartford Graffiti Ride has been subsumed by the RAW Real Ride due to rescheduling of that event for the same evening.  Still riding, but starting from Real Art Ways on Arbor Street.  Meet at 6PM, and roll when it starts to get dark. ***

This bee was hanging out in Heaven a couple weeks ago, but he's gone now.

A friend from Urbana, IL just forwarded me a photo of a Kickstarter funded public art piece in an underused and previously boring alleyway.  This is a great business model for public art in times of contracting municipal budgets!  Find a building owner with a vacant and boring wall, pitch them an idea for a piece, start a kickstarter campaign to pay the artist.  Graffiti artists that had been forced to do their best work in secret could make some inroads into exposed public spaces, with the time needed to put up the best - and get paid.

Found this unexpectedly well populated wall in Stafford Springs.

Heads up to Tavis / Skan duo (or someone that knows them can give them my contact info).  I've seen a lot of your work and chatted with a certain arts organization.  What would you think of a Kickstarter type campaign and piece on a large wall associated with the arts organization?  I would love to help make this connection and could even help with the Kickstarter stuff.  Drop me a line either through Beat Bike Blog, or you can email me directly (acherolis at gmail.com).

Nice burner by the river.  

Read more!

Can you handle more graffiti?

Because if you can't, that's okay.  Regardless, I'll be riding around on Friday,  July 19th looking at notable urban art.  Hartford has amazing graffiti, if you know where to look. Following the train tracks yesterday I stumbled across these hidden gems.  Unfortunately the works shown below won't be on the bike ride, as the extended length of sketchy, rough train tracks would be punishing.  That said, the ride may include some short segments of train tracks and off road riding.  Fat tires will be appreciated, and spare tubes / patch kits invaluable.

The informal bicycle wander will meet and end at Heaven, a well used and dynamic legal graffiti zone just north of downtown Hartford on Main Street.  Meeting at 6:30PM and shoving off by 7PM.  Brendan is working with folks to get a skate park built at heaven to complement the existing vibe and give the kids something to do.  After the ride I'll be heading over to Sully's for Past\\Forward.

Disclaimer - This is not an organized ride.  In fact I guarantee that it will be very disorganized.  I'm not sure how far I'll be riding, but expect to be back at Heaven 1-2 hours from when I shove off.   There is no cue sheet, and I don't plan on watching out for your safety.  If for some reason you choose to ride around and look at graffiti, it is of your own free will and you are assuming the risks inherent in riding your bike on roads, various terrains, around other vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians.

If you missed it, I've heard there is an Alley Cat planned for June 22nd.

Read more!

I am so f-ing glad I don't have a yard.

Folks at work this week talking about their three day weekend were saying things like, "I'll finally get a chance to catch up on my yard work."  I remember those times.  As a near suburban home owner I too had a yard and sacrificed one, if not two, nights a week.  Never again.  For those that find this time meditative, good on ya, but it ain't my bag.  Would much rather take in a movie at Real Art Ways, go for a hike, head to the museum, volunteer somewhere, go for a bike ride, well - you see there are a lot of things that seem more fun (for me) than cutting the grass or yanking out weeds.  And I totally don't dig the guilt trip, keeping up with the neighbors crap.  Might as well grow a huge yard sized garden rather than grass, at least you'd get some tasty organic veggies for the labor.

Bike Trailer Movers.  Raining all damn day.

Since I've long escaped the enslaving bonds of lawncare, I was able to help Ken K continue his gradual move into his new digs.  We didn't get to use a pulley and ladder to wedge stuff into his second story window, as it was too rainy for that to be even marginally safe.  Instead we loaded up bike trailers and ferried stuff the three blocks from his old place to the new, freshly painted one.  Ken was using the nearly dead coffin trailer, and I hooked an extra kid trailer in tandem with my standard flatbed.  The tandem handled remarkably well.  Ken rewarded me with a huge Salmon fillet for my trouble, a fractional share of the 40 lbs that he had picked up that morning at the restaurant supply warehouse in the South Meadows.  That's a lot of fish!

Creepy Graffiti in Stafford Springs 

Saturday I decided at the last minute to ride up to northeastern CT to test out my new tent with an overnight trip.  The destination was Bigelow Hollow State Park, and more exactly Breakneck Pond.  On the DEEP website map of the park there was a tent symbol although the info for the park makes no mention of camping.  My guess was that there were some under publicized primitive sites around the pond, and I was right.  I didn't get to check it out, but based on the signage in the park there is even a 3 walled shelter on the East side of the pond.  My approach to the park was from the north via Mashapaug Road, which turns into Breakneck Rd, which turns into a washed out, rocky quad track that was quite interesting.  Those that love their rims or are smarter about cracking their skull (far away from cell service) might want to stick to the southern approach from Bigelow Hollow Road.

Hat Trick.  Tent, bike, and fire.

The camping was amazing.  Memorial Day is usually to total cluster fuck at State Park campgrounds.  Everyone and their loud drunk brother decides to take out the RV or popup trailer.  At Breakneck Pond I was totally alone.  No cell service, a book, a bottle of wine.  A beaver, peeved that I was poaching his pond shore, postured with tail slaps as he swam by.  It's amazing what a mile and a half of hiking into a primitive site does to thin the hordes.  Awaking to the myriad birds at 5:30AM I hiked a bit of the loop path south of the campground.  Totally worth staying two nights next time.  Lots of hiking opportunities.  A hook and line could bring in dinner.

Artsy?

The ride back was through some of the best dirt roads that CT has to offer.  South of the park is a large parcel of forest owned by Yale.  I was on dirt roads from Bigelow all the way to Westford.  I also spent some time on Route 89, which for a numbered state route is a surprisingly good ride.  Meeting up a friend for lunch in Willimantic at the Thread City Diner was the calorie boost I needed to make it back to Hartford via the Hop River Trail and East Coast Greenway.  A stop in East Hartford at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ rounded out the day.   At no point this weekend was I stressed about what my neighbors thought about my lawn.

Awoke to a swiftly rolling fog.

Oh yeah.  There is an Alley Cat, the Hartford Hellraiser, coming to Hartford on June 22nd.  Get your fixie bikes ready, or any bike for that matter.  Perhaps I'll ride a three speed just to spite the hipster element and keep myself from riding irresponsibly.  Should be a good time.

Raising the Dead

Read more!

GHGT and RR - Be there.

So.  Tomorrow evening (Friday, June 29th) I'm going to ride around Hartford and nearby environs to peruse some choice graffiti.  The not so organized ride will be dubbed - the Greater Hartford Graffiti Tour (GHGT).  You are welcome to tag along (pun intended?).  There is a Facebook invite, but I've heard some people out there still shun Facebook.   Meet up at 5:30PM at the carousel in Bushnell Park.  We'll roll around Hartford, then branch out.  The Hartford bit will be short.  Bring fattish tires and don't expect to ride fast.  It's going to be warm out, so beverages are probably a good idea.

Also, the Real Ride approaches.  Saturday, July 7th a raucous group of lighted revelers will roll about Hartford and converge on the riverfront to watch the Riverfest fireworks from an undisclosed prime location.  Show up at Real Art Ways at 6PM to start the festivities and decorate your steed.  The ride begins at 8PM and we'll catch the fireworks at 9PM. Real Art ways has concessions if you're hungry or thirsty.

Bring your own materials or use those that will be available to bling your bike.  The more glowing, flashing, lighted-ness the better.  This is the fifth one of these, and they keep getting better.  If there be rain, the rain date will be July 8th - same as Riverfest.

Oh yeah.  Both rides are FREE!  So even if you have a horrible time, you didn't waste any of your hard earned dough.  See you there, and spread the word. Read more!