Amelia
When I saw this post by Amelia Potter, I had to find out more about the board. My first stop was her website
There I saw her amazing portfolio and found out that after struggling with more academic subjects she found her strength & passion in art & photography. I’m all about listening to your inner voice and following your passion so I reached out to her about doing this blog post.
How did you become an artist?
I found my passion for art at a really young age as I struggled with academic subjects this allowed me to focus and develop into the artist I am today.
Art is a gift it’s unique compared to any other subjects like maths and science which you can learn from a book, whereas art is more an insight into the beauty of the artist themselves.
I work as a freelance artist, photographer, illustrator and caricaturist. As well as being the channel artist for The Fragnostics on youtube.
Who inspires you as an artist?
I’m inspired by illustrators, films, comics and cartoonists and hope to someday work in children illustration or concept art for companies like Marvel or Disney.
I am going to study illustration and visual communication this year at the University of Westminster in London.
Do you skateboard?
Skateboarding and surfboarding are my hobbies and I have snowboarded in the past. I have quite a few skateboards all different styles such as Long Boards, Trick Decks, Retro deck and a Pintail.
Alice
What was your inspiration for the using the skate deck as a canvas?
Designing skateboards was my last project for my Art Foundation course at Colchester Institute where I looked at ‘Social Space: Who Own’s It?’ an area I had chosen to explore because of myself being a teenage skater seeing how society accepts us in ‘there’ space.
Designing on the actual skateboards created a demanding statement and visually communicates to the viewer my concept and theories my work explores.
Alex
My original inspiration to use the decks as my canvas came from street art and graffiti illustrations that I had seen at a variety of local skate parks that I go to in Chelmsford, Colchester and Southbank London.
These illustrations made up of faces, characters and words graffitied at the parks inspired me to graffiti my own board. But to convey my messages clearer when presenting my final work I knew using spray paint wasn’t an easy material to work with so I developed digital drawing which I had printed to then apply to the deck to communicate and create a strong statement.
The decks used in my final series were boards that where donated or found at boot fairs where I then took them home to clean and then print on. The prints are done on huge vinyl stickers which cover the base of the board which keeps the price down compared to screen printing. My aim was to recycle these old unwanted skateboards to give them a new life, a purpose.
James
Can you explain the art on the boards?
Each board has a illustrated identity in which the portrait has the eyes missing and filled with colour this is recurring for each portrait and shows the the portraits are blinded and being controlled by something invisible to the eye…society? Society controlling our public space owning a space that should be free?
The background behind the portraits are patterns made with the same face matching each board. The repeating pattern becomes visually overpowering which is then supported by my colour palette chosen to help aid this statement and visual communication to my audience that I’m aiming for.
Danielle
Who are the skaters featured on their boards?
The illustrated faces on the decks are all my best mates and are skaters themselves.
There are 6 current original skateboards in series that are dedicated to my friends (whos faces I used) as a thank you for helping me through a really rough year, they have kept me going so shout out thanks to Alex, James, Richy, Danielle and Alice! Love you guys!
Richy
Can someone buy or order a deck from you?
I have received a few requests about buying decks and am currently working on some more designs.
If anyone is interested feel free to get in touch. I’m happy to reprint any current designs from my art insta or any new designs just give me a message!
My web is currently being updated but I have a FaceBook page Amelia Potter Art and Photography in addition to the insta @ameliapotter_artphotography with recent work.
Thank you so much for sharing. I’m so inspired that you combined your passion for art & skateboarding to create a college project that included your friends and communicated a powerful message on how society impacts us. Plus you used recycled boards and thought of ways to lower costs by using vinyl stickers – absolutely amazing!
Skateboarding itself is sport & art. I believe it increases your creativity on & off the board. How has your creativity grown because of skateboarding? I hope you share like Amelia did.