The above wall pieces--the work of North Carolinian artist George Peterson--are all made out of broken skateboards.  Peterson carved designs in them with a chainsaw, burned parts for texture, and painted them with several layers of milk paint, wax, and rust.  By the time he's finished, you'd swear the boards were ancient African shields. 

I found this wall art in George Corman's email newsletter, Gardening Insights.  The Tucson garden designer found Peterson's work on-line, fell in love with it, and persuaded the artist to let him be his apprentice for a few days.  He worked with Peterson on these pieces while he was in North Carolina.  The "shields" are destined for shows in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia later this month.

Not many of us will be able to duplicate Peterson's level of craft, of course, but doesn't it make you want to find an old skateboard or surfboard and bang it up at bit and see what you could do?  I don't own a chain saw or a blow torch, but I've got all kinds of house paint and could go for a Jackson Pollock splash art effect.  Or I could glue on layers of straw and bark and go for a Anselm Kiefer look. And I've got bare block walls that need some garden art.  What would you do with a broken skateboard or surfboard?

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Incidentally, George Corman is pretty artistic himself.  And, if you live in the Tucson area, you can see his bee habitat sculptures and other garden pieces this weekend, Nov. 14-15 as part of the Tucson-Pima Arts Council's open studio tour.  Also see our blog post about these pieces.