We collaborated with a team of 50 artists, graphic designers, printmakers and photographers to create the re:deckorate exhibition in Bar Gandolfi, Glasgow to raise funds for the skateboarding charity–skatepal.
Skatepal are a non profit charity organisation, working with communities throughout Palestine to enhance the lives of young people and promote the benefits of skateboarding. You can read more about them here.
The exhibition
Images by Robert J Smythe
Artists were given the opportunity to design and create one of our recycled skateboards through their chosen media to represent the concepts of “Freedom” “Community” or “Empowerment”. We choose these concepts as they are strongly represented within skateboarding culture and form a huge part of the Skatepal ethos.
Skateboarding has always provided a sense of freedom, freedom to go where we want and freedom to express ourselves. Unlike any other sport, the global skateboarding community empowers any level of skateboarder, from any background and these are just some of the reasons why we love skateboarding! From the re:deckorate exhibition we wanted to not only raise funds for Skatepal but raise awareness of what skateboarding has to offer and involve the local creative community.
We reached the artists by posting an open call on our social media. The response was amazing! After a week or so, we had to close the submissions as we had hundreds of applications. We really didn’t expect this level of response! (Thanks to everyone that got in touch!)
Once we confirmed the artists for the exhibition we had to quickly prepare 50 of our recycled boards and distribute them to artists around the UK. It was great to meet so many new people through this and hear so many great ideas!
The deadline was quite tight for the artists as we posted the open call at the start of November and boards had to be returned to us by the start of January but amazingly everyone delivered on time.
Launch night – 05/01/18
Images by Kevin J Thomson.
The launch night was a huge success, with the bar packed all night! It was great to see everyone’s reactions to the artwork and we even sold 20 of the boards on the launch night alone.
We had planned to have an auction at the end of the exhibition for any boards that hadn’t sold yet but we we’re delighted that all 50 boards sold throughout the duration of the exhibition.
Huge thanks to all our artists that donated their time, ideas and amazing artwork to raise funds for Skatepal.
Thanks to Café Gandolfi for providing us with their beautiful space.
Thanks to everyone that bought a piece of art from the exhibition, your donation will go a long way!
From this exhibition we’re currently in the process of working with Skatepal again in the future and collaborating with some of the artists from the exhibition… Stay tuned for future projects and events!
We're also sorting through donations and will be announcing soon how much re:deckorate raised for Skatepal... Stay tuned!
A few spotlights of some of the boards
Tom Garmory
At the age of 91 the personal freedom I treasure is my freedom to roam, to walk on wide sandy beaches narrow cliff paths, through leafy woods and the banks of rocky streams to find quiet places where I can enjoy nature and wildlife and where I can sketch and paint.
Cameron Reid
Skateboarding offers the purposeful escape and freedom from your circumstances. All skateboarders are equal on the skatepark or in the street. Skateboarding offers you a temporary reprieve and allows you to recharge your batteries. It can help you to face the world in which you live and to make it better.
Qaiyyum Tajudin To wake up every day and be greeted by choices is a luxury we all forget living in freedom. The choice of lifestyle, travel, expression and experience. These things are intrinsically connected to freedom. My work is an examination of those choices we often take for granted and the transformative effect it has within its inhabitants. This piece has had much of the material removed and what remained was manipulated into organic forms. Through the freedom of choice.Skateboarding and it’s expressive nature, the ability to make mistakes and grow from them are all ideas very important to me and no matter how much you remove, alter and put holes in, the idea and form remain.
Pheobe Willison
Empowerment Using the butt as a symbol to represent female empowerment, I have juxtaposed images of young female skaters from the 70s with text from Funkadelic and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Through this, I am aiming to ask the question, how can female empowerment occur in a patriarchal society?
