Rider’s Lens: Kit Landwehr’s Murals and More

Hi, I’m Kit, a multi-disciplinary artist living in Kansas City, Missouri. I’ve loved drawing for as long as I can remember. In college, I studied painting and art history. I enjoyed working on big canvases, but after graduating, little apartments and limited storage pushed me toward smaller pieces. I also wanted my art to be accessible to a wider audience. Eventually, I got an iPad, and this new digital way of painting made it easier for me to create and share my work.

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As much as I love art, I’ve found it difficult to maintain a consistent personal studio practice. I go through extended periods of time when I’m not creating anything, followed by hyper-focused creative bursts. For many years, I worked a non-creative computer job and, after sitting at a desk all day, I wasn’t motivated to do more of the same after work. In 2016, I discovered rock climbing and spent most of my time at the gym or camping in Arkansas for an impromptu climbing weekend. I’m not sure whether there’s a connection or just a coincidence, but my drawings seemed to reflect my renewed love of the outdoors, and I began incorporating more organic elements, like flowers and plants, into my pieces. 

Then the pandemic hit, the climbing gyms closed, and my friends and I were searching for something to do outside after work. Many of us had dusty old road bikes, and we started casually cruising around the paved trails in town. The first time I rode 30 miles, my mind was blown by how far we’d ridden, and I was instantly hooked. Goodbye rock climbing, hello cycling. During that time, I was lucky to have more experienced cycling friends and a partner who guided me in buying my first gravel bike and taught me about disc brakes, tubeless tires, route building, etc. 

Around the same time, a friend reached out to me about painting a mural for a hotel courtyard. I had never been commissioned to paint such a large piece before, certainly not something with this much creative freedom. The wall was 16 feet high! I used my iPad to nail down the exact design, and then I was up on some scaffolding, painting away. After that mural, and in combination with all the digital paintings I had been sharing online, I began to get more traction with my work. Soon, I was freelancing more and more projects, everything from coffee labels, cycling bottles, and shirts to album covers, van wraps, and more murals.

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Something started to click for me with the murals, though. Oh, this is why I like working large. It’s the slow, physical process that I enjoy. There’s a connection to be made to bikepacking here, and I’ll try to unpack that briefly. When I’m painting a wall, I move across it section by section, only seeing the small area right in front of me. It’s created slowly, one shape, one line, one layer at a time. I have to trust that each stroke contributes to the larger picture that only makes sense when I step back.

Bikepacking feels similar: you cover ground slowly, one climb, one turn, one mile at a time. Both can be physically demanding, yet I still find many moments of relaxation in each. A big wall and a long ride both let me settle into a rhythm and take in what’s in front of me. Both drive me to be fully present. It takes several days or weeks for the mural to come together, so finally seeing the completed piece is really exciting. A similar elated but tired feeling that accompanies finishing a long ride.

Sometimes, I take direct inspiration from the places I’ve visited. More often, though, my art acts like a subconscious mirror for the places I’m interested in exploring more and the types of adventures I’m craving. In recent years, I’ve been painting more landscapes; imaginary places I wanted to visit or live. I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram, but there are a lot of amazing people on the platform whose art or travel continues to fuel my inspiration as well. 

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I started riding my bike more and more. The more I rode, the better I felt, and the further I could go. I realized this could be the means to exploring new landscapes—places like I had been dreaming about in my paintings. I became obsessed with building routes and finding new roads to ride. There’s plenty to explore in Kansas City by bike, and if you ride far enough, gravel roads sprawl across rolling hills in all directions past lush fields, lakes, and old trees. 

Bikes have become so much more than a physical escape, however. I was not prepared for the amazing community and friendships that followed. Bikes have been the spark that created some friendships in my life that I hope last a lifetime. In 2023, I joined the Komoot Women’s Bikepacking Rally in Arizona. That trip became a pivotal moment in my life because of the other amazing women there. I feel so lucky to have bikepacked with them in different beautiful places beyond Arizona. What an immense privilege it is to be able to spend an entire afternoon or an entire week tootling around on a bike with your friends. Pursuing a career in the arts is also a great privilege that I try not to take for granted. 

These days, I work as a graphic designer and freelance artist. When drawing for fun, I mostly use Procreate on my iPad. I have considered bringing a small notebook and a few colored pencils on a bikepacking trip, but I usually remove them from my bag at the last minute because I am already prone to overpacking.

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For my mural work, I first map out the design using pencil or chalk, and then I’ll paint with acrylic house paint. I hope to paint some big murals outside of Kansas City in the future. I also want to say yes to more bikepacking trips, especially the kind with big slow climbs and ample moments for dilly-dallying and snack stops.

You can browse more of Kit’s work in her portfolio.

Further Reading

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