Skate Spot Call to Artists Deadline Extended

Skateboarding is a West Coast sport. It began in the Los Angeles area when surfers wanted to ride the waves off-shore. The first skateboards were rudimentary and were made of wooden boxes with small metal wheels. Eventually surfing manufacturers, like Makaha, began pressing layers of maple or oak wood and finishing them, and skateboards began to look more and more like surf boards on wheels. By 1965, Skateboarder Magazine had made the sport official with an avid lifestyle readership to boot. In the 1970s, polyurethane wheels replaced metal wheels, and the modern skateboard was born.

As with all sports, new materials in equipment lead to new manuvres and terrains. Vert skaters came into vogue, sharpening their wheels on empty swimming pool walls and other surfaces situated at 90 degrees from the earth's ever fleeting curvature. The infamous ollie made its debut in the 80s, as aerial tricks ramped up the anti on the skater's repertoire. Because ramps were expensive to build and required planning, and empty swimming pools were not always easy to come by, street skating took off as a phenomenon during the mid-80s.

Skateboarding began as a homemade sport. People made their own skateboards by bying roller skates and attaching their wheels to planks of wood. Just like skating, it presented its own terrain-related dangers. A pebble or a crack in the pavement was enough to throw a skater off his or her course. But just like surfing, it was an American sport. The Venice Beach Zephyrs took to the streets in homegrown style.

Unfortunately, but in keeping with its renegade flair, skateboarding often finds itself in conflict with the law. Designated spaces for skating did not become popular until recent years. Just like at Venice Beach, surfers who surfed the scarcity of ten waves every fifteen minutes amid the treacherous ruins of a decrepit amusement park at Venice, skateboarders resorted to steep streetscapes, public benches, sidewalk curbs and other undesignated and potentially dangerous spaces in the public realm.

The City of Gaithersburg is friendly to skaters today. Several designated skating areas exist within its municipal boundaries. These include a skate park at The Activity Center at Bohrer Park near Gaithersburg High School, which is open from March until October of each year, the Lakelands Park Skate Spot and the Diamond Farms Skate Spot.

In the fall of 2007, an ad-hoc Committee for Skate Components within City Parks was formed in response to parental advocacy for spontaneous, recreational activities for children after school. The Committee presented research results and recommendations to the Mayor and City Council in December of 2009. Tim "Smitty" Smith, Youth Services Director, oversaw the process of building the Diamond Farms Skate Spot.

The Diamond Farms Skate Spot, laid out symmetrically and facing Quince Orchard Blvd., features two quarterpipe miniramps with a two-tiered platform ramp and a diamond-shaped ramp between them. Relatively small in surface area, the skate spot provides a suitable training ground for beginners and for more advanced skaters looking to hone their heelflips and lipslides.

Most recently, the City of Gaithersburg is seeking to integrate the skate spot at Diamond Farms into its Arts in Public Places program, which aims to enhance frequently-utilized spaces in the city through the incorporation of public art.

A call to artists deadline for public artwork that complements the skate spot has been extended until March, 25 2011.

"We wanted to extend the opportunity to apply to more artists," said Cultural Arts Director Denise Kayser. "The City of Gaithersburg is always looking to support artists in the community."

A $6000 budget is available to the selected artist(s) for the design, fabrication, transportation and installation phases of the project.

The City of Gaithersburg currently seeks submissions, including an artist's resume, a portfolio of relevant artwork and a short artist's statement from interested parties. The second phase of the competition will require a detailed site-specific proposal. Groups of artists as well as individuals are encouraged to apply.

The artwork will be sited in the grassy area to the right of the skate spot, needs to be site- and weather-sensitive and should refer to the site and its function as a skate spot. Within the budget's constraits, the artist is free to interpret these guidelines, while ensuring safety and ease of installation, as well as durability. The City envisions the installation as a free-standing sculpture that is not necessarily skateable.

Designated graffiti walls are popular at skate spots across the country. Never Crew Skate Spot in Lugano, Switzerland features a painted whirlpool scene over the skating pavement. An oversize skateboard stands beside the skating area at Lafayette Skate Spot in Los Angeles, California. Pervious and other planted areas are often integrated to add drainage features to uninterrupted swathes of pavement.

Japanese wood sculptor Haroshi creates 3-dimensional artwork from recycled or broken skateboard decks. Companies like Skate Study House Skateboard Furniture retail designer benches and coffee tables made from throw-away decks, ramp coping, skateboard trucks and even wheels. The challenge of this competition is to adapt creative ideas to an outdoor setting.

To read the complete City of Gaithersburg competition RFQ, click here.