GEORGE PETERSON •   BREVARD, NC

Peterson has exhibited his work from Los Angeles to New York including the Boston Fine Art Museum (MA). His sculptures are in the collections of Mint Museum of Craft + Design (NC) and the Wustum Museum (WI). George currently works from his studio in North Carolina.
 

"A used skateboard tells a story. Skateboarding is a creative and expressive act. It’s also a super destructive act that is punishing to the boards. Used boards show a not-so-subtle story of movement and force that’s told through the worn graphics and whatever else is left—stickers and hand drawn art or cool patterns cut into the grip tape. Sometimes the story is a jagged, splintered edge. Sometimes it’s repetitive gouges and scrapes. Sometimes the boards are still in one piece and great for carving and paining. I use all these elements to build works that tell a tactile story through shapes and colors.

Before art, there was skateboarding. I’m a self-taught artist and a lifelong skater. One of the first things I made as a kid was a skateboard. I traced the shape onto a piece of plywood, cut it out and painted it orange. I was so excited to use it that I couldn’t wait for the paint to dry and got orange all over my shoes. It broke on day one because the wood was too thin. That kid had no idea where this would lead. My childhood was filled with building skate ramps out of whatever materials I could find. My friends and I rode those ramps until they fell apart. We’d scrounge and salvage more wood and do it again. Skateboarding was my first real passion, and I feel that same anxious, urgent excitement making art.

These boards have traveled far to get here. The skate decks I use in my art are gathered from the Asheville skate scene that is centered around the FOUNDATION skatepark and PUSH skate shop. I couldn’t do this work without them, and it’s important for me to acknowledge this piece of the art-making picture. Over the last 12 years we have recycled around 2000 boards. Each board generates $5 that goes to support the park. The FOUNDATION is a non-profit, DIY skatepark that’s 100% volunteer built, maintained and managed. It’s a very special slice of WNC culture and an impressive art work of its own."