Build it and Ride it: How Skateboards Began

Todd Huber, skateboard historian and founder of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame, will present a brief look into the handspun origins of one of the world’s most popular sports. From metal wheels and 2 by 4’s, stolen roller skates, and a plethora of makeshift materials and construction approaches, skateboards are rooted in the DIY, from how they are made and built, to a total outlook, philosophy, and culture. This talk will explore how sidewalk surfing and American ingenuity went from garages to the Olympics.

Huber is the Founder and CEO of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame and a lifelong advocate for skateboarding culture. In 1997, he opened the world’s first Skateboarding Museum in Simi Valley, California, preserving the sport’s history and honoring its pioneers. Through the creation of the annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Huber has built one of skateboarding’s most respected institutions, attracting thousands of fans and industry legends from around the world. His leadership continues to elevate and celebrate the legacy of skateboarding globally.

If you would like to attend in person, please send an email to rsvp@craftinamerica.org.

To attend online, please register.

Skateboarding the Canyons, Plains, and Asphalt-banked Schoolyards of Coastal Los Angeles in the 1970s

Pioneering skateboarders reacted to newly created subdivisions throughout Southern California in the 1960s and 70s. In their pursuit of new surfaces upon which to express bodily movement, they exploited a capital-intensive urban landscape to create a sport that today has tremendous economic, political, and cultural implications. This talk will focus on archival material drawn from Skateboarder Magazine from 1975 to 1980 to help situate the ways in which skateboards sought out particular urban spaces and responded to them in particular kinetic ways. The skateboarders and those who documented their emerging sport through photography and writing, expressed deep awareness and understanding of urban space. Topography and new suburban morphologies influenced their understanding of, and reaction to these spaces. The asphalt-banked schoolyards of Los Angeles in particular provided an unintended playground for skateboarders and served as a starting point for the modern-era of the sport.

Lorne Platt focuses on urban history, city planning, and cultural geography. Over the last few years, he has examined skateboarding and suburban development, alongside other forms of alternative movement and micro-mobility (including scooters and e-bikes). Another area of interest is the transformation of semi-natural landscapes into cultural/human spaces, including golf courses, university campuses, and sports stadiums. Lorne holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and is currently a Lecturer in Urban Planning at UC Irvine and Geography at UCLA.

If you would like to attend in person, please send an email to rsvp@craftinamerica.org.

To attend online, please register.

Images courtesy of Hugh Holland (M and B Photo)

Silversmith symposium

Meet rawhide braider Jeff Minor, engravers and silversmiths at the silversmithing traditional cowboy arts symposium organized by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Bonus video from the WEST episode.

Archival courtesy of William Mullins / Alamy, Trhett / Pond5, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Ernie Marsh, Diane Scalese, David Alderson, Wyatt Cook, hdnaturefootage / Pond5, Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, Scott Hardy / Leslie Hardy photograph, Cary Schwarz, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Wilson Capron / Caleb Royer photograph.

Ubaldo Vitali & Paul Revere House

Silversmith Ubaldo Vitali welcomes us to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he makes his home and business as a fourth-generation metalworker from Italy. Vitali makes original work and restores historical silver, including the work of Paul Revere, whom we learn more about from the Paul Revere House. Segment from the EAST episode.

Lost wax casting

Lost wax casting at Ubaldo Vitali‘s studio. Bonus video from EAST episode.

Vehicles of Expression: The Craft of the Skateboard

Los Angeles is the birthplace of skateboarding. From its very inception the skateboard has been the product of MacGyvering things together, drawing from hockey, roller skating, surfing and go carts. This exhibition will be one of the very first to substantively present skateboards as material culture and as handcrafted objects of artistic expression. In terms of design, material, and construction, skateboards are some of the most common, widespread crafted objects in our world, yet they have generally been overlooked by museums. Skateboards can be artfully made and used for equally artful performative acts. Intended to show wear and tear as badges of pride, these carefully crafted objects exist in a state of potential ephemerality. This show will expand definitions of craft, art, and performance by looking at this beloved and familiar object. Arguably one of LA’s biggest cultural exports, the show will focus on the artistry and history of the handmade, handshaped skateboard.

Organized in consult with skateboarder and multimedia artist, Abe Dubin (aka Orange Man)

Participating artists and contributors include: 

Blacksmith to Hollywood, Tony Swatton Studio Tour

Master Blacksmith Tony Swatton is a self-educated blacksmith who started making his own armor at the age of 17. Nine years later, he opened his first shop, where he made products for Euro Disney and Michael Jackson. He did his first film work for Hook in 1991. In over 30 years he has forged pieces for over 300 feature films and some of the largest franchises on the planet. His work can be seen in many films and TV shows, including Pirates of the Caribbean,Thor, Star Trek, Batman, Hellboy, The Last Samurai, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The tour will begin with a forging demonstration by special guest silversmith, Randy Stromsoe.

Tony will guide visitors through his showroom area of many famed props for movies and TV, and then demonstrate his specialties in his vast metalworking facility.

$20 fee for tour

By attending this studio tour, participants agree to hereby release and discharge Craft in America and Tony Swatton from any and all liability, claims, demands, or causes of action for injuries or damages arising out of participation in the studio tour.

Randy Stromsoe: Silver Stories & Restoration Roadshow

For over five decades, Randy Stromsoe has been crafting one-of-a-kind pieces in sterling silver, pewter, copper, gold, and wood.

Trained under renowned silversmith Porter Blanchard, Randy began his career working on prestigious commissions, including custom gold trophies and ceremonial pieces. His craftsmanship has sinceearned a place in the White House Collection of American Crafts, the Smithsonian Institution, and private collections around the world.

Randy will share about his experience of “baptism by fire” in the business and practice of working in silver and pewter in the 70s, when he was first emerging from his apprenticeship, as well as stories of working with Blanchard in his studio. In addition to talking about the legacy of silversmithing in California, Randy will open up for an Antiques Roadshow-style show and tell, in which the audience is invited to bring their own purchased or inherited silver pieces for Randy to explore and explain. He will discuss fabrication, form, history, and restoration, as applicable. 

This will be the first of two consecutive days to learn about Randy’s process. The following day, Sunday Mar. 1, he will make a cameo appearance demonstration during the tour at Tony Swatton’s studio.

If you would like to attend, please send an email to rsvp@craftinamerica.org.

Online Tool Talk #2

Tools of the Trades artists James Austin, Seth Gould, and Thomas Latané will present on their practices as blacksmiths, sharing about how their toolmaking dovetails with their studio practice and how they continue and build upon historical traditions. Craft in America Curator and Director Emily Zaiden will then moderate a panel discussion on the contemporary practice of toolmaking in this age of increasing digital technology.

Please register to join the webinar.

Online Tool Talk #1

Tools of the Trades artists Brien Beidler, Spencer Hamann, and William Robertson will present on their individual practices of book binder, luthier and tool historian/miniaturist respectively, sharing about how their toolmaking dovetails with their current studio practice and how they continue and build upon historical traditions. Craft in America Curator and Director Emily Zaiden will then lead a panel discussion on contemporary practice of toolmaking in this age of increasing digital technology.

Please register to join the online talk