I am recovering from a 3-week intensive marking bender.
My eyes are itchy, my lower back aches and my approachablity is incendiary.
A tight uni turnaround to mark 28 x 6,000-word research reports and 28 x 2,000-word workplace assessments (both Masters level and worth 80% of the total course!) PLUS 21 x 3,300-word undergrad mixed-method research reports (worth 50%). Epic!
I am grateful for the work. Like many others, I’ve had no uni teaching or lecturing for Trimeter 1 due to university COVID response measures. No sessional work, only marking. Thank goodness for my educational consultancy. Tough times.
The students worked hard and so did I. There’s a lot riding on these assessments – and I take the job seriously. I’m not the kind of academic who breezes over assessments and gives 3 comments like: good or need more work here and interesting point– what the hell kind of feedback is that? So unhelpful! I am NOT that kind of marker – I hate that shit! So, I put in the work and gave each assessment my full attention.
And now….I am tired.
When I feel like this, I need bike art.
It ALWAYS makes me feel better.
Last time I felt like this, I wrote how @Artcrank makes me happy.
Other bike-inspired artwork that helps are:
- Bicycle Murals by Mart Aires
- Bike-themed tattoos and Cycle Ink (Part 1)
- Walt Cahill’s beautiful Inktober collection of bike-inspired illustrations
- Bekka Wright’s comic series Bikeyface
- And… 2019 Bicycle-themed Inktober artwork
So in a similar mood for @Artcrank, I looked for a new source to lift the spirits and remind me of the creative playfulness betwixt bikes, community, action, spaces, materiality, bodies and brazenness.
And this time, I found Global @bikeart.gallery on Instagram.
@bikeart.gallery makes me happy
Here is a 100-word worlding I wrote after seeing @bikeart.gallery for the first time.
I love bikeart, too.
Eyes itchy, shoulders aching and approachablity is incendiary. Time for bike art. @bikeart.gallery – newly discovered on Instagram. Stickers, prints, icons, charcoals, photos, cartoons, designs, and paper cuts. I love bikes and I love art, too. Some super progressive bikeart, others not so. Hypersexualized disembodied females with-on bikes (really? still?!) – cringe-worthy. Elsewhere, I marvel at super spunky rider couples, surreal adventure rides, fantastical bici creaturing, and cheeky postmodern velo classical reinterpretations. A few memes. Close-ups, portraits and movement. Audaciousness. Lego, flames, tattoos, air travel, and (Fr)eddie Merxc(ury). @jctdesign’s spontaneous napkin doodle ‘unplug and ride your bike’ is good advice.
Image: @andy_warlord 
Image: Rachel aka @rachpetru! 
Image: IG @artbike.gallery 
Image: @bikeart.gallery 
Image: @AlvaroLopeMoralesQuevado 
Image: @tadapota 
Image: @bikeart.gallery 
Image: @bazasportpenza 
Image: @josekoebrugge 
Image: @abphart 
Image: 
Image: @hello_mrbaker 
Image: IG @artbike.gallery 
Image: @daemoncycling 
Image: @kosuke_masuda_5 
Image: @lbbjkt 
Image: @bikeart.gallery 
Image: @eila_kai 
Image: @davidlgill 
Image: “Organic Growth” art installation (umbrellas & bicycle tires) by @izaskunchinchilla (account not longer exists) at Govenor’s Island. 
Image: @gracegarciasalcedo 
Image: IG @artbike.gallery 
Image: @dibuja_y_pedalea 
Image: @mitevol 
Image: @theolddrifter 
Image: 
Image: @jctdesign