The adjustable crescent wrench is one of my favorite tools to have at hand. It’s also one of the first tools folks pick up when they begin working on bicycles. I worked for 3+ years at the Free Ride! community bike shop in Pittsburgh, starting as a volunteer and eventually ending up as the treasurer/financial wrangler. For years, we had a sign (that I painted) hanging over the entrance to our shop that read “Everyone Welcome”. The intention was certainly genuine – ideologically, everyone was welcome – but in practice it was always much more complicated to put those words into consistent action. There’s a lot of privilege and assumption in this phrase, and sometimes I’m embarrassed to remember how inclusive we (or I) thought we were being back then. Upon reflection years later, however, I still believe that it’s a goal worth working towards.
So, this is a print for everyone working in a community bike shop, everyone sharing their skills, everyone riding their bike, and everyone who just picked up a wrench for the first time. Most importantly, it’s for everyone who believes that challenging privilege in yourself (and your surroundings) is a long, deep process.
Printed on a press at Artists Image Resource in Pittsburgh, with the generous help of Bec Young.
I actually cut this block back in 2008, while working the summer at the RUST youth printshop program with Heather White and Justseeds’ Mary Tremonte. I headed up a linoleum-printing workshop starring Justseeds’ Pete Railand, who taught two-color registered lino printing. I never actually finished and printed my own design but for all the other work – found in a drawer in a recent move, here it is now.
