Click HERE to view tour map.

While cycling across South Dakota we became immersed in the landscape, providing a way of exposing ourselves to changing perceptions and new experiences, while acquiring an expanded awareness of our surroundings. Special thanks to SDPB Radio for the on-air support. Listen to the post tour interview here.

Ultimately, the 'Heart to Heart' tour served two distinct purposes within our work. One, a point of departure, viewing the planned future, and two, a point of arrival, which became the completed past. Ann Seymour states in 'Walking in Circles', that the brain operates in terms of both ratio and proportion, in another words measurement. The human body has the ability to operate various systems of measurement, continually tracing its relationship to the land. Thus, coexisting as both a unit of measurement and a map, a recorder of space and time. This demonstrates that the act of cycling, an archetypal symbol of human movement, provides a fundamental function for the human body to measure the landscape.

The tour and 'Heart to Heart' drawings are complete. Seven days of cycling bliss, thanks to all those who supported and helped make it possible. Life is like riding a bicycle to keep your balance you must keep moving.

From the Badlands to the prairies, from tailwinds to headwinds the Heart to Heart tour continues with two big days of cycling left.

Follow the live SPOT Tracker GPS updates here. Sharing the Road, Art and Community.

Image of the new Seismic Drawing Box. It is constructed out of balsa wood, with a plexi glass top and bottom. Dimensions 14 x 17 inches.

By Karl Gehrke
Karri Dieken and Michael Baum, both Black Hills State University graduates and adjunct art instructors, are taking their love of art and biking to a whole new level.  On Monday, the two embark on a five-day, 442-mile bike ride from Spearfish to Brookings while creating a series of seismic drawings, a photograph journal and a video documentary.  Their work will be part of a collaborative exhibit of 10 artist couples from South Dakota and elsewhere. After their cross-state ride, Dieken and Baum will compete their artwork for display in the Heart to Heart exhibition at the South Dakota State University Art Museum in January.  The artists will provide daily updates on their journey on their blogs here and here.

Listen to the Broadcast/Interview Here

Heart to Heart

May 19th through 25th artist Karri Dieken and myself will be touring across the state of South Dakota, while creating a series of seismic drawings, a photographic journal, and video documentation, cycling for Art and Education. The work will then be on display at the South Dakota Art Museum the end of 2014, as part of the Heart to Heart exhibition at the South Dakota Museum Art Museum.

Karri Dieken will be completing floor piece for the exhibition made of bicycle tire tubes and fibers, a cozy for my cyclocross bike, cycling jerseys [pattern created from one of my seismic drawings, and a fibers wall hanging. more information will be posted the closer we get to the trip date.

Heart to Heart Exhibition at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings SD end of 2014

Collaborative between 10 artist couples from around the US. Featured artist include:

Karri Dieken and Michael Baum (Spearfish, SD)
Kristyn Weaver and Peter Reichardt (Brookings, SD)
Diana Behl and Andrew Kosten (Brookings, SD)
Patti Roberts-Pizzuto and Johntimothy Pizzuto (Burbank, SD)
Amy Fill and Mike Hill (Volin, SD)
Mary Selvig and Marty Wanserski (Sioux Falls, SD)
Julie Punt and Jerry Punt (Sioux Falls, SD)
Sara Christiansen-Blair and Greg Blair (Aberdeen, SD)
April Holder and Hoka Skenandore (Shawnee, OK)
Sara Woster and Rob Fischer (Brooklyn, NY)

Premise: include one work by each artist and then one collaborative piece per couple.