Boards without Boarders - NZ Shred’s recycled snowboard exhibition returns
NZSHRED’s sixth recycled snowboard art exhibition will take place at Sherwood from the 21st of August. This year the exhibition is entitled Boards without Boarders, anyone can pop down to NZSHRED to pick up an old snowboard to turn into an art piece, which is then sold with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. This year’s charities are Happiness House and I Am Hope.
Owner of NZSHRED and event organiser, Jase Johns, puts in the mahi to get the event up and running. Each year, members of the public donate boards for the exhibition, and Jase also contacts brands to get donations. Anyone is able to stop by NZSHRED and pick up a board to start getting creative with. The original idea was sparked by Jase’s sister, who works in the art industry in Australia.
“She was teaching at a college in Aussie and one of the things they were doing at the time, for disadvantaged youth, was following a programme that had been done in the States with skateboards, where they’d hold back kids after school that were getting in trouble and make them do artwork on skateboards. They then got pro-skate boarders and actual artists, and put them together with the kids to do an exhibition, with no nametags – so no one knew who had done what. I grabbed that idea and extended it, thinking, how can we help the community charities that are doing some good work?,” says Jase.
Most of the people that participate in the event aren’t professional artists, which results in a melting pot of creative and interesting works. You don’t have to include your name on your artwork and can opt to keep it yourself. Jase makes the process simple for anyone that wants to get involved.
“If you can make it as easy as possible for people, giving them time to do it or getting them the resources to do it, they don’t have to do anything for themselves other than just create a piece of art. It helps that it’s year-on-year, so that people can actually get a feel of it from last year or see it from last year,” says Jase.
Students from Remarkables Primary School and Mt Aspiring High School Arts programmes are already underway preparing boards for the exhibition. As with previous exhibitions many of the boards will be available for purchase. Boards without Boarders will be a relaxing event where people can take their time looking at all of the artworks and enjoying themselves.
Jase loves running the exhibition each year and is happy to see the momentum it’s gained. Often people will recommend friends or family to get involved.
“The most amazing thing for me is standing there and watching people come in to look at their piece of art. Most of the people aren’t artists, they’re builders, or lifties, or walk around in a fluro vest, but they’ve just got a little bit of flair for doing something. They’ve got a level of anonymity, too, as it’s not an exhibition by them. If it does anything for the individual, it reminds them that they do have something more in them,” says Jase.
Boards without Boarders will run at Sherwood from Monday, 21st until Sunday, 27th of August, with prize giving being held on the night of Friday the 25th. You can find out more info or get involved by checking out the Boards without Boarders Recycled Snowboard Exhibition group on Facebook or popping into NZSHRED for a chat.
