Art
odyssey
Southern Indiana artist
packs journal, sketchpad and camera on her bicycle
as she travels the Ohio River, documenting her trip
with a series of paintings
By Roger McBain /
Courier & Press staff writer / 464-7520 or rmcbain@evansville.net
September 19, 2004
TROY, Ind. - Kit Miracle
is on her bike looking for Christ, but she's ready
for other options.
"You've got to be open to surprises," says the
pedaling painter from Birdseye, Ind.
Miracle glances into the rear-view mirror sticking
out from her bright-yellow bicycle helmet, checking
for approaching traffic as she pedals her 24-speed
Trek hybrid bike southeast along Indiana 66 toward
Tell City, Ind. Her gaze moves from the river on her
right to the road to the bluffs on her left as she
scans the landscape for Christ of the Ohio, a tall,
stylized statue that, according to her guidebook,
"Indiana: A New Historical Guide," is supposed to be
easily visible from the river.
If she can find the landmark, and if she can find
the right composition, she may photograph, sketch or
paint it there on the spot, adding to her growing
collection of scenes found and captured in weekly
treks along the Ohio River.
The statue eludes her this day, but when she
reaches Tell City, she finds alternative subjects.
Miracle stops across the street from an old
market, pulls out a sketchpad and pencils in the
building's lines, the lettering of its old signs and
the faded flag buntings gathered on its white street
facade.
Later, she pulls behind the old City Hall and
decides to paint a watercolor of one of the carved
stone lions sitting in the shade behind the
building.
She removes her helmet and the bright-orange vest
she's worn over her black cycling costume. She
unloads her rolling studio from the back of her
bike.
Most of her equipment fits into a set of zippered
black nylon saddlebags draped onto a welded aluminum
rack over her rear wheel. The bags, or panniers,
bulge with maps, photocopied guidebook pages, a
camera, bundles of brushes and pencils, a sketchpad,
sheets of watercolor paper, a Masonite panel to
mount the paper on and a plastic container to hold
water for her paints and brushes.
Atop the bike rack, a hooked bungee cord secures
her folding aluminum easel, stuffed into a long
denim bag that Miracle made from an old pair of
jeans. A bright flash of orange - a safety flag she
used on a 2002 bicycle tour she made in France -
hangs from the end of the easel bag, which extends a
foot or so off the back of her rack.
Miracle got the idea for her Ohio Valley art
odyssey after pedaling through France in 2002. She
took the trip to jolt herself out of an emotional
and artistic lull she'd fallen into after her
mother's death, she said.
It worked. She chronicled the experience daily in
a journal, on a sketchpad and with a camera as she
pedaled for 11 days through Provence. After
returning home, she created and sold a series of
paintings from scenes she'd photographed and
sketched in France. "I came back just so inspired,"
she said. "I thought, 'Why can't I do this where I
live?'"
Miracle has been at it since spring, when she set
out to pedal the entire length of the Ohio River,
documenting her trip with a series of paintings she
plans to show in special exhibitions and post on a
Web site she created for this project. This year,
she received an Indiana Arts Commission grant to
help fund the Crawford County paintings.
The project brings together two of her favorite
activities, which she once thought of as mutually
exclusive: pedaling and painting. At 52, Miracle
says she's been biking for more than 40 years and
making art for more than 20 years. She's done a few
other things along the road, as well. The Richmond,
Ind., native got a degree in elementary education,
taught for a year in Appalachian Kentucky, went to
grad school and spent 11 years at Ford Motor Co. in
Michigan. She and her husband saved enough money to
leave Ford together 17 years ago, moving onto a
90-acre, 1883 farm, where they're raising two
teenage sons.
Miracle got seriously into art in Michigan when
she worked for Ford. She's worked full time as an
artist for 18 years, selling her works in galleries,
at major art fairs and with commissions. She's been
visual arts coordinator of the Jasper (Ind.) Arts
Center's Krempp Gallery since 2000.
The bicycle project has re-ignited her creativity
as well as her ambition, she says. The Indiana
section of the journey covers 303 miles along the
Ohio. She hopes to complete the Hoosier stretch of
river by the end of 2005. Her goal is to have 100
paintings from the Indiana portion.
But that's just the start. Miracle's ultimate
goal is to ride, sketch and paint the river's entire
981 miles, from Pittsburgh, where the river starts,
to Cairo, Ill., where it joins the Mississippi.
"Too ambitious?" she asks.
Miracle answers her own question. "I think
everybody needs to do something big." |
