Opening Reception—Vehicles of Expression: The Craft of the Skateboard

Celebrate with us as we open this playful and boundary-pushing exhibition about the development of the skateboard’s very structure. From its inception with cobbled-together lumber and rollerskate parts, to contemporary high-tech renditions, and cutting edge, eclectic, expressive variations—it’s all here!

Remarks by Abe Dubin (aka Orange Man), skateboarder and multimedia artist. Dubin will address the “why” that fuels skateboard innovation and how the melding of imagination with physical objects (and the altering thereof) is the essence of skateboarding. 

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

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)

Online Artist Talk by Conceptual Skateboarder Abe Dubin (Orange Man)

Abraham Dubin, better known to the international skateboarding community as Orange Man, is a professional skateboarder for the Boston-based experimental skateboard troupe Fancy Lad. Dubin, who is the exhibition advisor to Vehicles of Expression, will speak about skateboarding as a world of pure imagination.

About Abe Dubin:

Having graduated from Massachusetts College of Art, Dubin is an illustrator who has come to use reality as his sketch book with himself as an all-orange-adorned living cartoon character. Orange Man, dressed in neon from head to toe, is a (literally) vibrant and vivacious entity who builds skateboards out of ordinary household objects (including fine art canvases) and creates custom skate contraptions invoking Rube Goldburg machines that contort and transform.

As a youth Dubin studied theatre, drawing and painting, and begrudgingly participated in team sports. Upon receiving a fluorescent green skateboard from the used sports store, a shift occurred in which suddenly self expression seemed to harmoniously infuse with rigorous physical exertion. Parking lots became stages for balletic performance, transforming the mundane modernity of suburban life into a playground of limitless potential.

Dubin has exhibited his skateboard artwork and made live demonstrations across the US from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston to galleries and skateshops in Pittsburgh, PA, Iowa, Las Vegas and Seattle. Abraham has collaborated on video projects for Adult Swim, Vice, Thrasher Magazine and Red Bull and premiered short films at the Vladimir Film Festival in Croatia.

As a husband and father, Dubin’s home studio serves as a woodshop and laboratory for abstract kinetic sculptures the he and his contemporaries refer to as “board manipluations.” Deeply influenced by the Duchampian ethos of the ready-made and Jim Henson’s warm rich world of play and imagination, Abraham’s practice is one of reinterpreting everyday objects and architecture and allowing his skateboard puppetry to organically flourish.

Please register to join the webinar.

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

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: 

Tools of the Trades Opening Reception

Please join us to celebrate the opening of Tools of the Trades: American Handmade Implements & Devices, which is the first exhibition of the Handwork 2026 initiative.Tools of the Trades celebrates the ingenuity born of necessity and the special narratives in the hand-crafted. The specialized, laboriously handcrafted devices featured are used for a wide variety of craft applications: ceramics, textiles, hot glass, wood working, and metal, including the niche fields within them, such as ironwork or spinning.

Artists include: Anna Koplik, Arlen Heginbotham, Bosworth Spindles, Brent Bailey, Brien Beidler, Dennis Dusek, Dossain Valencia, Douglas Pryor, Dyakcraft, Eleanor Rose, Elia Bizzari, Fabiano Sarra, Heather McLarty, Indian Lake Artisans, Janet Fox of Handywomanshop, Jay Burnham Kidwell, Jeff Amundson, Jim Austin of Alchemy Metalworks, Jim Moore, John Williams of Guildwerks, Watanabe & Co., Kalia Kilban, Kelly Harris, Liza Nechamkin, Max Grossman, Med Chandler, Michael Sherrill / Mudtools, Andrea and Chuck Kennington of NC Black Co., Rachel Kedinger, Reid Schwartz, Saign Charlestein, Seth Gould, Shanna Leino, Spencer Hamann, Tom Latané, Will Larranaga, William R. Robertson and more.

Image credit: Prototype set of Mud Tools’ Petal Knives set. Photo by Michael Sherrill.

Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff, Jeffrey Bernstein, Norm Sartorius segment

In Washington, D.C., we visit the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and meet three collectors who have donated work to the museum, Fleur Bresler, Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein. They explain why sharing their collections with the public is an essential part of their connection with artists and introduce us to Norm Sartorius, a sculptor who makes fascinating and original wooden spoons. Segment from COLLECTORS episode.

Objects in Fleur, Judith and Jeffrey’s collections

Learn more about the objects in Fleur Bresler‘s collection and Judith Chernoff and Jeffrey Bernstein‘s collections. Bonus video from COLLECTORS episode streaming on the PBS App November 12, 2024. PBS broadcast premiere December 27, 2024