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 painting. I use all these elements to build works that tell a tactile story through shapes and colors.
A used skateboard tells a story.
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.
Before art, there was skateboarding.
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.
featured in
George Peterson's wood sculpture and recycled skateboard art hold a place in museum collections across the country and are represented by galleries from Asheville to Tokyo.
REPRESENTED BY
Blue Spiral - Asheville, North Carolina
CARGO - Toyama, Japan
OK - Los Angeles, California
Trove Gallery - Park City, Utah
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Asheville Art Museum Asheville, NC
Mint Museum of Craft + Design Charlotte, NC
Museum for Art in Wood Philadelphia, PA
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
Huntsville Museum of Art Huntsville, AL
IN THE PRESS
IN THE PRESS
"Skateboard Wall Sculpture" — Barack Obama Presidential Library Artifact Collection
https://obama.artifacts.archives.gov/objects/42256/skateboard-wall-sculpture
An official National Archives entry for one of my skateboard sculptures, now part of the Obama Presidential Library's permanent artifact collection.
"Hitting the Deck" — WNC Magazine (January 2014)
https://wncmagazine.com/feature/hitting_deck
A feature on how I turn salvaged wood and skateboard decks into sculpture, including the story behind LINGO and a bowl of mine that ended up in the Oval Office.
"Punker | Skater | Sculptor" — Asheville Grit
http://ashevillegrit.com/punker-skater-sculptor-artist-george-peterson-grinds-his-way-biltmore-avenue
A local profile on my path from skate punk to sculptor, tied to a show of mine at Blue Spiral 1 on Biltmore Avenue.
"George Peterson" — New South Finds
https://newsouthfinds.com/george-peterson/
A short bio covering my self-taught background, my Circle Factory studio in Brevard, and that bowl that ended up in the Obama White House.
"George Peterson / Circle Factory" — Left Bank Gallery
https://www.leftbankgallery.com/collections/george-peterson
Gallery page for my collection there, noting my bowls have shown everywhere from Asheville to Tokyo.