Last August I co-curated an art show called Smile On Your Brother that was hosted by Livestock on it's tour across Canada from Vancouver to Calgary to Saskatoon to Toronto to Montreal to Quebec City. It was a charity show where all of the money raised went towards buying underprivileged kids skateboards. Now this might seem strange to some but for a lot of people I know (myself included) as kids and teenagers, skateboarding was one thing that really kept them out of trouble, and the Contributor charity which produced the show knows this just as well as anybody.
The latest Contributor project is called One Way Or Another and I am again co-curating, this time along with Andy Jenkins of Girl Skateboards, Mike Giles of Furni, Justin Cooper of Society 6, Annie Lam of Breadwinner and Sandro Grison of Vancouver's own Color Magazine. It's an online project where we did a public/juried call for submissions, then we had some wild cards where we invited established artists to be involved. How it works is that you go to their SITE and find the artist who you like (out of a stacked stable of more than 40), then you pay $150 and that artist creates a one-off skateboard just for you to hang on your wall. The money then goes directly into buying skateboards which will then be distributed to kids all across Canada. Everybody wins. GO NOW.
THE OFFICIAL WORD:
Contributor has teamed up with Society6 and Club Mumble to curate our second art show in support of Contributor. Building on the success of last year’s group show, “One Way Or Another” plays upon the personal nature of a skateboard. Things like how you grip your board, how loose your trucks are, and heck, how you know that the size of your wheels down to the slightest of millimeters will make the hugest difference. In the end, this little wooden toy seems to be made just for you.
Combining an open call at Society6 and a group of specially invited guests (curated by Andy Jenkins, Bob Kronbauer, Sandro Grison, Justin Cooper, Mike Giles & Annie Lam), we have selected over 40 artists/collectives from around the world to create original artwork on full-size blank maple decks. These specially made boards will be sold at our online shop (www.wearecontributors.bigcartel.com), with all the proceeds going directly back to getting skateboards to kids across Canada.
What makes this project unique is that rather than people buying a already finished piece of artwork, their purchase will commission an artist/studio to make a board especially for them, so when it arrives, it’s an awesome surprise – kind of like a familiar chocolate with a hidden tasty centre!
ART SALE INFO
To see full listing of artists, please visit www.wearecontributors.com
* Sale continues from July 8 to August 15, 2010
Online shop can be accessed directly at www.wearecontributors.bigcartel.com
ARTIST LISTING
Alain Cheung
Allister Lee
Amber B Dianda
Andrew Schansberg
Anthony Smith
Aurelie Grand
Bob Haro
Bombo
Chad Vangaalen
Chris Piascik
Daniel Rossi
David Ko
Don Pendleton
Emilio Santoyo
Emory Allen
Evan Melnyk
Jason C Arnold
Jess Fogel
Joe Castro
Joe Van Wetering
Jordan Crane
Keith Scharwath
Kelly Litzenberger
Lydia Nichols
Maurizio Santucci
Max Erds
Michael Sieben
Mike Perry
Pete Panciera
Porous Walker
Randy Laybourne
Roger Allen
Rollout
Rory Doyle
Steph Walker
Steve Cabellero
Tim Barnard
Todd Francis
Todd St. John
Tony Larson
Travis Millard
Tyson Bodnarchuk
UPSO
Wade Mickley
Will Bryant
