Why be bored in school? Go to a Skateboard School! This Toronto District School Board alternative school design program helps students earn high school credits and graduate by creating their own brand and running a skateboard business / professional design studio. OASIS SKATEBOARD FACTORY (OSF) "ON THE GRIND": TDSB's ART & ENTREPRENEURSHIP O.G.s since 2006!

Friday, October 30, 2015

Heading into the weekend having made excellent progress on our OSF x SKATEISTAN project


Be Yourself: OSF Halloween


Hope everyone who came out to the OSF OPEN HOUSE had a great time seeing student projects and student success in process!



Mentorship Session: OSF x ANOMALY business program builds student brands


OSF family dinner in Chinatown


Michael from MOVEMBER made a public announcement about their upcoming collab with OSF at our open house


Shred Empire!


My brand name is Shred Empire.  The theme of my skateboard is a 3D cartoon/ comic art effect.  My inspiration is the beautiful street art around my community. Also, the murals and underground graffiti really caught my interest.  I used different types of techniques to create my graphics.  I used spray paint to layer the background one by one.  Then I proceeded to create the outline and details with a sharpie ink pen. I played with the contrast by making the background bright orange to make the white and black letters stand out.  My artwork was signed with my friends’ tags to give the idea of a crew of creative skaters.

My personal response to my first skateboard is that I learned a lot in the process. I feel like I have a lot to improve on when it comes to applying the graphics cleanly. For example, I now know that I should draw with clean hands and not touch the paint with dirty fingers!


What makes a great logo Lunch & Learn with designers Andy & Oleg at ANOMALY


Thanks to everyone who came out to support our students at Crafted Coffee for the reception of Bean2Board. Special thanks to Pilot Roasters for hosting and our art mentor and collaborator Chris of Champstiles woodburning!




Proud family supporters at the OSF reception of Board2Bean tonight!


Awesome day at the skatepark with my students!-SarahOSF



OSF Crew at CJ SKATEPARK!


No injuries at the skatepark today, but some creative pants surgery required!


Leadership: Sharing skate skills!


First OSF FREE SK8 DAY of the school year donated by our friends at CJ SKATEPARK


Monday all hands on deck: gluing up some bamboo and maple veneers for custom client boards


Skate graphic vinyl being applied to a board for our SKATEISTAN project...


Saturday, October 24, 2015

At the end of the week, six OSF custom boards in process for our project with Longboard Living for SKATEISTAN


Our pool deck for SKATEISTAN in process...


Tyler briefs the student design team on our upcoming OSF x MOVEMBER board series


Motherboard


My name is Sam, I am 20 years old and I came to OSF to graduate highschool with my final credits.   My first board for my brand is an earthy psychedelic-style graphic with circling eyes surrounding and lotus flowers in the middle.

I used spiral eyes surrounding the board to create depth and perspective behind the main design of the flowers. In some cultures the eye ( ‘evil eye’ or ‘third eye’ ) can be seen as a spiritual symbol; The third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical  concept referring to a speculative invisible eye which provides  perception beyond ordinary sight. The lotus flowers represent ‘purity’ or peace, as being they sink into the mud at night yet rise untouched the next day , the flower always looks so clean and pure against the background of the dirty pond. Because of this the lotus flower has come to be associated with purity and beauty in the religions  of Buddhism and Hinduism respectively. the ancient Egyptians scholars observed that in the night-time the  lotus closed its flowers and sank into the water, and came up with a different association  with the flower related to rebirth and the sun. The eyes create a sun or moon-like shape  above & under my board where the space is left blank. I also earthy colours of green and blue to represent the earth and tie it into my environmental brand.

The different mediums that were used during the proccess of asembling this board included using a tape stencil, some misting  (spraypaint) stipling (with a paintmarker), and layering with different colours and stencils. The board I created is a streetdeck,  which was also sanded and woodworked by myself. I used contrast and balance between the artwork where the nose  and tail have eyes  that look similar but are in different colours and behind a faded background.

My brand, Motherboard - exists to promote peaceful environmental-living while also celebrating harmony with one’s inner-self.  A huge inspiration for me would be Alex Gray, who does many “acid-inspired” artworks, including for the album art of Tool. I want to communicate uplifting art that basically inspires to send positive vibes into the universe.

Woodworking & designing my own skateboard has inspired me to do future art on different mediums, such as wood and concave/oddly-shaped surfaces. I learned a lot about using tools, and now greatly appreciate the work that goes into building and creating graphics for custom boards. I really enjoyed the hands-on work and the experience has definitely expanded my horizons in art.

HomeSpun


I’m 17 years old. I’m from Toronto and I’m a skater boy. I am in my second year at OSF. My brand is Homespun skatebaording and we exist to handcraft a healthy ride.

My board’s graphic is a bamboo based graphic. It has modern pastel colours that are bright and cheerful. My board shows the bamboo grain because brand is all about being eco-friendly and showing nature’s beauty. My inspiration is from Quasi Skateboards/Mother Collective and Polar skateboards. I like the abstract patterns in their artwork.

I taped lines on my board in a random pattern to expose the wood grain and to make it look like bamboo stalks. The black lines stand out against the multicoloured background so the emphasis is on the bamboo stalks and the natural wood. I wanted to create a relaxed feel with the natural grain and calm pastel colours.

For this board I tried an experiment. I tried to make a really light board using four hard rock canadian maple and one bamboo layer. It didn’t really work out. I’ve created abstact designs by taping sections of my board before, but this time I added leaves to make the lines look like bamboo. I learned I can use this technique to get very different results every time.


Doom Grip Stencil


OSF Flashback Friday: students brought in photos from our June trip to NYC


tdsbCREATES uses a nice photo of our last year's submission on one of their posters for this year's show!


The studio is busy with awesome new board shapes being produced for our SKATEISTAN project with Longboard Living...


Brainstorming process with ROCK for a new mural for Seven Lives Tacos


Safe in your Skin: new OSF student's first branded board


 I am 16 years old and I am a tattoo-style based artist. This year is my first year at OSF, and the board I have created here for my brand “ Safe In Your Skin is my first of many to come.

My brand - Safe in Your Skin, is a brand I created for people to be able to feel comfortable in their own skin. For my first branded board, I used the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter. I used her because the original image came with the quote ”you can do it” and also when I look at Rosie the Riveter I see a strong woman who isn’t afraid to be comfortable in her own skin.

As for inspiration, I’ve always been intrested in tattoo themed designs. I also thought they were cool and looked badass, and in today’s society, “badass” is usually a term used by guys, so I wanted to shine the light on female empowerment.

The different mediums that were used during the proccess of asembling this board included using a tape stencil, some misting (spraypaint), stipling (with a paintmarker), and layering my colours so I could make my board look more neat and organized. The board I created is a street deck, which was also sanded and woodworked by myself as well.

What I am trying to communicate is the appriciation of beauty, and by beauty I mean all beauty. I basically want people to be confident and bold, while being in their own comfortability, in their own surroundings, in their own skin.

For this being my first ever skateboard that I have made from scratch, I never realised how hard
it would actually be. I have bought skateboards previously, and now I can honestly say I appriciate the time and effort that is put into creating something that looks so simple, or easy. I must say, as a young artist, I’m supriserd that I have creating a skateboard with such a strong meaning. I hope to inspire other young kids to not only skate, but to create.


After some media training as part of our Marketing curriculum, OSF crew take part in a TV shoot for the holiday special of "Organic Panic" talking about skateboard sustainability.


MTS boards


Bedlam!


@tucanacoffee hearing our student designers brainstorm a button branding project for their shop


George Stromboulopoulis in the studio: OSF Student designing a skateboard for the @Strombo Show


Sunday, October 18, 2015