By JOE NICKELL of the Missoulian
At one time or another, most skateboarders fantasize about owning a private skatepark. Andy Kemmis has the next best thing. And it's piled up in his basement.
"Every time I go down there (to the basement), I'm just so stunned and excited about these things," says Kemmis. "I can barely contain myself when I look at all those decks together. It's amazing."
The roomful of decks is the result of an innovative project begun last spring by the Missoula Skatepark Association, which aims to build a public skatepark in Missoula's McCormick Park. After receiving an offer of a customized deck created by local artist Theo Ellsworth, and with the additional prodding of local artist and UM adjunct professor Jody Paulson, the members of the Skatepark Association took up the idea of a full-blown art-deck auction, with proceeds benefiting the construction project.
"We meet every week and we talk about ideas for fund raising; and when this idea came up, it just seemed like a home run right off the bat," recalls Kemmis. "We knew it could go places, not only in terms of raising money, but also in terms of building a sense of excitement in the community about this project."
Paulson, who has never planted foot on a skateboard, says she dreamt up the idea of an art-deck auction when she read a story in the Missoulian about the Skatepark Association's fund-raising campaign. She scheduled a meeting with the Skatepark Association organizers, where she pitched the idea.
"By the end of the night, they pretty much had it all planned out," she recalls with a laugh. "I was amazed and have continued to be amazed by their energy and creativity."
Of course, with any fund-raising project, there's always a question of whether people outside the core group of organizers will be stoked enough to participate. But as soon as word got out of the Skatepark Association's project, the group's phone started to ring.
"People all of a sudden heard about it and the floodgates just opened," says Page Orb, a Skatepark Association board member. "I had no idea it would be so successful that we wouldn't have enough boards for the amount of interest; but that's what turned out to happen. It has really blown me away."
One of the first and most crucial contributors to sign on was Generator Skateboard Distribution, a deck manufacturer based in California. The company agreed to donate 75 blank, paint-primed wooden decks for artists to customize. With such decks typically costing upwards of $40, the donation was a huge boost for the project, which organizers dubbed the On Deck Art Auction.
Another break came when a visiting teacher at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, Allison Leach, heard about the project from Orb and Kemmis, who both work at the school. Leach provided the pair with a list of deck designers she knew from her home in New York City. When Kemmis started calling the artists on Leach's list, he wasn't sure what to expect. But he was met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
"I was really surprised how easy it was," recalls Kemmis. "Some (of the contributing artists) are pretty big name artists in their own markets; but having come from a skate background, they're just totally into it. They understand what we're up to."
When Kemmis says "big names," he's not exaggerating. Customized decks were donated by several of the top deck designers and artists in the skate scene, including Tim Biskup, an artist whose work has been featured in galleries in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Kyoto and Melbourne; Andrew Bell, a toy designer and skate deck artist from Brooklyn; and Andrew Pommier, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based designer and illustrator.
Pommier, who has never even visited Missoula, says he offered to create a deck for the auction because he feels he owes a debt of gratitude to the skating community for helping establish his reputation.
"I'm always down with supporting skateboarding, so it was pretty straightforward for me to get involved," he says.
All told, about half of the artists who contributed works to the auction are from out of state, says MSA board member Ross Peterson.
Among those artists who contributed on a local level, some - including Michael de Meng, Bobby Tilton and Paulson - are established names in the arts community. But even here in town, boards were contributed from unexpected quarters, including local students and skaters with little previous art experience.
The juxtaposition of styles that resulted from the diversity of contributors is at once jarring and inspiring. Some of the contributed works don't even look like decks anymore.
One untitled piece created by artist Renee Childs looks more like the navigation system of an old ship, complete with an attached helmsman's wheel, dials, and a "Cap'n's Log."
Michael de Meng transformed his deck into a multi-layered creation featuring two hands outstretched past each end of the deck, and a wing-like apparatus in the center.
Hardcore skaters needn't fret; there are plenty of decks in the show that could legitimately be fitted with trucks and wheels and ridden, should any buyer care to do so.
"There were no parameters put on the project in terms of what artists could do with their decks, and I think that was important," says Paulson. "I think the diversity is so amazing, that's what I enjoy about (the collection of decks) as a whole.
"The common element is simply the shape of the deck. From that basic form, it's interesting to see how people really went in such diverse directions. There are some that really push for you to find that form within."
In this town especially, benefit art auctions are hardly a new or uncommon phenomenon. But few have ever seemed such a natural fit between form and function. Artfully designed, customized decks have been a central staple of skateboarding culture for decades. The fact that these are one-of-a-kind creations, designed to raise money to provide Missoula's skateboarders with a place to practice their own form of art, makes for a natural fit.
Moreoever, the auction promises to bridge some important gaps in local culture.
"More than anything, I hope it brings people a different sense of who and what skaters are - that they're artistic and not just thugs on wheels, they come from all walks of life and there's support from all over," says Orb. "I hope to open people's eyes to the community that people might have preconceived notions about.
"Of course," she adds wryly, "I hope we also make a killing."
Reach reporter Joe Nickell at 523-5358, or via e-mail: jnickell@missoulian.com
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