Fast Forward: Skateboards & Paddles

December

OPENS December 6th, 6-8pm / Runs December 6 – Early January, 2019

Select works from this show will remain on view through the end of January 2019.

Exhibition Dates:

December 2, 2018 - January 12, 2019

Featured Works

Paddles and skateboards move us forward, fast! Paddle blades and the lines of a skate deck are strikingly similar, and for good reason: they’re meant for speed, for slipping through air or water like a knife, and for cutting through resistance to get us where we need to go. The paddle is a traditional form of transportation, a perfectly engineered object that has been in continuous use on the Northwest Coast for millennia. The skate deck, its modern counterpart, has captivated the hearts of people across both rural and urban communities due to its economy, its freedom of movement, and its countercultural cache.

The two are similar in another way: they have long been perfect canvases for their owners’ personal expressions. Customized decks and painted paddles have deep and personal meaning to those wielding them, bonding a tool of transit to its owner.

This winter, we’ve invited our artists to adorn longboards, traditional skateboards and paddles in a group exhibition celebrating the power, speed, and creativity of these modes of transportation. Each artist will begin with the same blank canvas, but where they’ll end up is anyone’s guess…