December's theme is CYCLE
Our theme for December is CYCLE. It was chosen by our Freiburg chapter in Germany and illustrated by Isabell Meister.
Our Freiburg chapter had sustainability in mind when they chose this theme — from their swarms of cyclists commuting to work to their robust recycling programs that recover and reuse 69% of the city’s waste.
Our world runs on cycles. There’s the frantic buzz of the 24-hour news cycle. The boom and bust of economic cycles. The changing seasons. Every plant, animal, and organism exists in a life cycle of birth, growth, reproduction, and death. Water flows through a cycle of evaporation into vapor to condensation in clouds to precipitation that falls as rain or snow. The menstrual cycle. The circadian rhythm of our sleep cycle.
Just as crops are grown on a rotation cycle to replenish the soil, our own creativity requires a cycle of inspiration or inputs, followed by a burst of productivity or entering a flow state, and finally a period of rest or contemplation.
Cycles are circular and keep things moving. Which cycles are you living in tune with? And which ones are you fighting vainly against?
INSPIRATION FROM OUR COMMUNITY:
Each month, we ask the readers of our Weekly Highlights newsletter to submit creative work inspired by our global theme.
Here are this month’s featured works.
The Beauty of Bicycling by Leanne Poellinger in La Crescent, Minnesota.
Bicycling is very popular in our beautiful Mississippi River valley region in southeastern Minnesota. This paper collage piece was created with cut and torn magazine pages, handmade and other papers.
You can see more work on Leanne’s instagram.
Endless cycling by Alena Aichlmanova in Prague, Czech Republic.
This aquarelle represents how everything is connected.
Things Change And So Do We. So, what now? by Elizabeth Watkins Price in Carrboro, North Carolina.
Read Elizabeth’s Substack post.
Cycling in Order to Write (Why Writers Should Exercise) by Harma-Mae Bott Smit in Edmonton, Canada.
I am passionate about cycling and I wrote this blog post not long ago about how cycling got my creative juices flowing. This post was inspired by (and interacts with) Ryan Holiday’s post
Read Harma-Mae’s blog post. A Stone’s Depth. Acrylic painting. 36”x36” depicting a polished rock, interpreted. Nature’s jewel. You can see more work on Colleen’s site.
It’s a poem inspired by the deep connections in our lives and how they’re valuable not matter the brevity and that they don’t need a definition.
It’s a short essay, featuring my photography, about the world’s longest cycling race. Read Jen’s essay.
Turn of the Tide is an art installation where a performer’s breath controls the rising and falling of an oceanic tide in the projected video. The work seeks to compare the cyclical nature of breath with changing rhythms in the landscape, as a method to consider—and place within personal, felt experience—human relationship with the changing climate. You can watch the video and read more about the installation on Sara’s site.
A blog post exploring the imaginary health condition which was invented in the 19th century to warn women against cycling and independent travel. Read Adrian’s blog post.
This is a data visualisation about the cycle of Bollywood music. I was curious to see if a lot of the remade songs came from the same era or even if there was a pattern in the artists remaking. 
Metamorphosis by Colleen Obrien in western Canada.
Double Helix by Jodie Bass in Singapore.
What Cycling from Cairo to Cape Town Taught About the Power of Expectations by Jen Sprout in Brooklyn, New York.
Turn of the Tide by Sara Dittrich in Baltimore, Maryland.
Story ‘Women, beware of bicycle face!’ by Adrian Murphy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Bollywood Song Remakes by Rhea Zaveri in Mumbai, India.
Want to see your creative work featured on our blog? Subscribe to our Weekly Highlight newsletter to find out when submissions for next month’s theme are open.