The Year 8 Visual Arts students at Marymede Catholic College have learnt about skateboarding culture and a range of historical design movements that have shaped the way we see design today. Their task was to research a design movement that they could connect with and create a design inspired by this movement for a skateboard deck. The students studied Art Deco, Bauhaus, Constructivism and Memphis, and used acrylic paints for their final artwork. If you have ever walked past the Manchester Unity Building, you would have seen Art Deco architecture in the heart of Melbourne. And if you have been paying attention to Season 3 of ‘Stranger Things’ and Eleven’s colourful and trendy outfits, then you would have seen examples of Memphis-style fashion that was born in the ‘80s. 4 artists from the Year 8 cohort reflect on their creative process…
"My name is Demi and I chose Art Deco because I really liked the colours and patterns used for this design movement. The colours this style used was mostly gold and black and I really liked it because the colour gave off a rich and bold vibe.
Something that inspired me was what we were able to do, as in it wasn’t just any old painting that we were doing; we were designing a skateboard, which was much more interesting.
When I first found out we were designing skateboards in Art I thought it was going to be easy but it turned out not to be as easy as I thought. There were many steps we had to go through ‘til we got our final product."
"My name is Sanjit and the design movement I chose was Art Deco. The reason I chose this style was that it involves bold colours and geometric shapes that are alluring and it was fun to play around with the colours. I think what inspires me as an artist is the world and experimenting with different colours and shapes. When making the skateboard, I did different sketches to get an idea of what I liked. Once my final sketch was complete I started to create the skateboard deck."
"My name is Leo and I chose the Bauhaus design movement because I thought that it would look really good on a skateboard, and I like the colours that it includes.
As an artist I am inspired because I want to create cool artworks and also inspire other people.
The creative process that I used was, first I drew a design of what I was going to paint, and then I drew that design on my board. Then I masked it with tape and started to paint it."
"My name is Brianna and I chose Art Deco as the colours and their contrasts with each other were interesting and fascinating. Experimenting with the style of Art Deco was a challenge but I was proud of the overall ending of it.
As an artist, I think what inspires me the most is having colours that are working together to create a remarkable piece. Even if you aren’t good at drawing or really aren’t that talented at art, like me, a masterpiece is still within reach and extraordinary pieces of art are still easy and achievable.
When making the skateboard deck, I had to sketch designs and needed lots of sources of inspiration to get a style I was 100% set on. Once I had that design that I liked, I took time in getting the right colours and exact lines so that I didn’t end up creating a different design movement rather than Art Deco."
A selection of skateboard designs are currently on display in the SC Building gallery. In addition to this, a number of students in the cohort are exhibiting their work at the City of Whittlesea’s Baseline at Westfield Plenty Valley. We encourage you to visit the displays and see their amazing designs up-close.