Zombie Cult errr...Photo Shoot with our Interns Kendra & Darren

On the last day of their internship, Kendra and Darren helped students photograph their art against the backdrop of a wall in the Queen St. graffiti alley. These self-portrait paintings explore the impact of consumerism and media messages on youth culture.

Sponsor: Individual Commission

Thanks to Canadian Art Magazine for the free sketchbooks while touring the Contact Photography Festival!

OSF is "UP" @ OCAD!

Visiting Artist: James Gardner "SOY"

Self-Portrait Painting in Studio Time...

Sponsor: The Jonah Group

Thanks to SBC Skateboard Magazine for donating this week's classroom prize!

Cosmic Dragon #2

Hey, I’m 18 years old and I love Oasis Skateboard Factory.

When Oasis started I wasn’t the best at making boards, but over the year I’ve gotten a lot better. I’m now the Studio Technician who helps everybody with boards and graphics, from how to sand to cutting stencils or masking boards. Personally I like to mask out the board: taping over the board and then cutting out the tape to then spray your graphic.

This board is the second design in my Cosmic Dragon line. The first one was “Incoming Meteor”, which featured a meteor heading towards the Earth. On this board the meteor is crashing into the desert during a sunset. The gold flames coming off the meteor will also be featured on a later board (but they’re here for a reason). When I started this board I wasn’t sure what I wanted to put on it but it came to me, a tree here, a tree there, skull over here and a cactus over there. It was a fun board to make because I learned more about fading the background and not using just one colour.

I’m loving this board and I can’t wait to make the third…and I’m sure you can’t either.

Good-bye to our Awesome Art Intern Laura, Hello to some "pARTnership" student/artist collaboration Boards!

These two boards exploring themes of female stereotypes and strong women will be set up and sold as completes as part of an upcoming show of rockin' women artists at Longboard Living opening on May 30th. Laura has now finished her last teaching placement for her B.Ed. and has taken a job in the video game industry....Best of luck Laura, the students will miss your mentorship!

The Bat Board!

Inspired by my childhood years of watching Batman cartoons, this custom deck was definitely my highlight board of the year. This custom longboard was built in full day sessions, once a week for four weeks, at Roarockit Studio. With help from Ted Hunter, a template was drawn out, the mold was shaped, and veneers were cut. A spine was constructed with four layers of veneer that were pressed against the shape of the board then cut smaller and attached.

This project definitely opened up an entirely different world of board shaping for me. I no longer think skateboard art applies only to graphics, but to the shape of the board itself as well. As a student who has completed the program at OSF, I have pushed the envelope and expanded my skills as an art student. The Bat Board has taught me to pay as much attention to my canvas as I do to my art work.

Peace & Girlfriend

1.(Top Photo) I’m 16 and I live in Scarborough. I changed schools and started this program halfway through second semester to get a head start on next year.

This board was based on my way of life, keeping the peace wherever I go. If we all did that the world would be a better place.
I wanted to incorporate the peace symbol somewhere in my deck for obvious reasons.

I thought of this idea from looking at some graffiti in the streets. The rough drawing turned out well so the next step was making the board. The actual making of the board took a while because of all the different layers of paint and stencilling, but it was worth it when I saw the end product. I think this is probably my favourite deck I’ve had and the best part is I made it myself.
_________

2.(Bottom Photo) This is the fifth deck I have made at the OSF, and I definitely had a lot of fun doing this board. This being my second personal deck, I had a hard time deciding what image I would put on this board and I thought that making a board for my girlfriend would be cool. I designed the board with an exaggerated cartoon of my girlfriend with her nick name. I kind of prefer using cartoon images because it’s just kind of my style: Anime, Saturday morning cartoons, bold and bright colours. I used pink because pink is her favourite colour.

One of the problems I ran into was the constant bleeding of the spray paint under the stencils. Even though I used spray adhesive to keep my stencils down, I keep having that problem. Maybe I just had the OSF curse (bad spraying luck). Next time I’m going to take it slow and take my time, because now I’m working on two sponsor decks for a client that can’t have mistakes because they’re paying for it.

In the end I managed to finish the deck, and my girlfriend was really excited about her new gift (even though I’ll make sure I’ll do a better job next time).

Hot Dog

I am 17 years old and I live in Toronto near the beach. I’ve been a student here at Oasis Skateboard Factory since the second semester.

This board was inspired by Frank Kozik for his random animals and foods smoking cigarettes. I chose to make a silly cartoon hotdog with camouflage colours (ketchup, mustard and relish) in the background to add context for the hotdog. I made the hotdog in a cartoon style to emphasize the humour and wackiness. The letters and colours are bold and bright to make this board stick out from others.

The board has a simple message: to simply bring laughter and for people to appreciate how random it is. This board also serves as a reminder for people to just have fun and bring joy.

This is the first board I have completed and I have never felt more satisfied with anything like this in a very long time. Before I made this board I was terrible at making stencils, but through this experience I have upgraded my skills and learned a lot about the building process. I am really proud of the results of my final deck!

2010 Anne Hope Award for Social Justice

Oasis Alternative S.S. Students and Staff (representing the Arts & Social Change Program, Oasis Skateboard Factory and the Triangle Program) accept the 2010 Anne Hope Award for furthering the causes of equity and human rights education in the TDSB.

SBC Skateboard Video: A Concrete Education

SBC Skateboard Magazine: A video extension of our "A Concrete Education' article from the Spring 2010 issue. Craig Morrison takes you through the Oasis Skateboard Factory, an alternative school in Toronto that incorporates designing skateboards and running a skateboard business into regular everyday classes. Filmed by Christoph Benfey.

BAMBOO SK8 & OSF Graphic Design Contest Winners!

Following our business unit on SK8 sustainability, students expressed their environmental consciousness through images on 100% bamboo boards. While all students that submitted designs to the contest get to keep a bamboo skateboard and receive written feedback from the Bamboo SK8 team, these two compelling designs submitted with strong written artist statements and explanations will permanently hang in the Bamboo SK8 headquarters in Oceanside, California, and these two students received prize packs including the newest bamboo street decks and longboards. Thanks to Geoff Koboldt and his team for all their support in running this exciting educational opportunity for the OSF students!

Outreach: OSF Board in Silent Auction for Free Skates

This awesome board was a collaboration between two of our student designers and is now on display with boards by some top Toronto artists as part of a fundraiser event for Free Skates: http://freeskates.wordpress.com/ (Opening Party is 19+, but you can check out the show opening tomorrow at Well & Good Gallery, 52 McCaul)

Custom Longboards...

Some of the recent boards students are shaping with mentoring from Ted Hunter (Roarockit Founder & OCAD Teacher) and finishing with painting and printmaking techniques taught by Craig Morrison (Artist & OSF Teacher).

Sustain

I skate street and I come from East York. I’ve been going to OSF since February. I created this design on a bamboo deck and I was inspired by Asian wildlife. I mixed that with Shepard Fairey’s famous Andre The Giant picture and reworked it. The theme of my skateboard is sustainability and using bamboo instead of non-sustainable materials.

The materials I used to make this board were black and white spray paint and the technique I used was taping the whole board, drawing a stencil and cutting out the image so I could get a sharper, clearer picture. The elements and principles of design I used were contrast and balance. I was trying to communicate that we should be using more sustainable materials like bamboo and other things so we don’t waste all of our natural resources.

I feel really proud of making this board and I think it came out a lot better than I thought it would. There were times I really thought I was going to mess it up, but it all worked out in the end.

Wings

I have made approximately 10 decks in this program. I love this program. It has made me motivated to come to school every day and I am being really successful in this program. This is my last year here and it makes me really sad that I am leaving this program; at least I had my year here to make 10 decks and be with Craig, my amazing teacher.

The theme of my skateboard is an angel theme. I decided to make this board because I wanted to challenge myself with stencilling. My inspiration was a postcard that I got when I was at Disney at the Japanese pavilion at Epcot. I decided to change it a bit and add angel wings. The way I created this deck was by doing a masking tape stencil where I put the tape on the board and then I traced the design on the board and cut it out. I also used stencilling for the dress that is red. I used three colours white, black, and red. I created a high contrast image with the three colours I used.

With this deck I am trying to communicate beauty and elegance, and that all skateboard designs don’t have to be masculine. That’s what I try to communicate with all my boards. My personal feeling about this board is that I love it and it shows how much I have grown with stencilling and my images over this year.

Students Open Alternative Tentacle 5 @ Xpace! (Exhibit on until May 15)