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!

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Catcall Boards

Catcall Boards: I'm 18 years old. This is my first semester at OSF. I'm originally from Niagara Falls and I came to Toronto to have more experiences. My brand is Catcall and we exist to empower women to speak out about sexism in the skate industry. 
For my first board I decided to do a girly yet dark theme. I wanted to make a board with a message because there are people like Donald Trump degrading women. The character on my board looks bad ass but is also girly. It's important because there are so many kinds of women and we don't all have to be the same. It's also important to show women can be tough because there are a lot of stereotypes that put women down. For instance, it's seen as an insult to call a man a woman- ex: "you throw like a girl." What does that say about how we think about women in our culture? 
I made this deck by pressing seven layers of veneer in a Roarockit vacuum bag. Then I did the woodworking before doing a pink "dip" on my board and speckling splashes of colour. The graphic was finished with a tape stencil and paint marker. By speckling candy colour paint on the board I gave the deck texture while making it feel girly and happy. I used the principle of design of contrast by making my main image black and white so it pops out and draws your eye. The contrast between the cheerful colours and the black and white can also represent how women present themselves on the outside vs how they feel on the inside. 

Overall I feel like the deck represents my brand and ideas- a girly but dark feel. Next time I'll improve on my line work and proportions. People should be watching out for more from Catcall and the women's movement!