“SKETCHY!” is a trip through the art and creativity of skateboarding, featuring a look back at over 30 years of Rochester skate photography, decades of skateboard graphics, and the fine art of the skateboarding world.

Located steps away from one of Rochester’s most iconic skatespots – Liberty Pole – “SKETCHY!” will run all Summer long and will feature extra programming throughout the run of the show.

The Process is the Product

It all starts with a sketch, a rough idea. It’s doodles on a napkin, fingers on a dashboard. It’s our innate compulsion to take that idea and make it real, as solid as possible, as perfect as possible. In our creative endeavors, skateboarders and artists wrangle these ideas into physical form, trying to make each line, each mark, each flick of the board as perfect as possible.

During that process, everything else is just sketchy . . .

The Board as Art/ifact

A visual survey of skateboard graphics featuring skateboards from a variety of Rochester-based collectors. Spotlights include board graphics as art of protest, a look at the role of local skateshops in the community, and a dive into the screenprinting vs heat transfer process.

Rochester Skate Photography Retrospective

A look at over 30 years of skateboard photography in Rochester, NY, with a spotlight on how skateboard photography documents a city’s changing landscape.

The Fine Art of Skateboarding

A roll through the artistic side of skateboarding. Featuring a selection of world-reknowned skateboard illustrators and artists alongside professional and Rochester-based skateboarders known for their art practice.

And more . . .

Additional components will include a recap of Rochester’s skate video history co-curated by VIDEODAZE, a free screening and talkback with the director of SK8FACE – a documentary about the history and evolution of skateboard art and culture, talks throughout the run of the exhibit, a limited edition screenprinted skateboard featuring graphics by Don Pendleton printed by the wizards at Screaming Squeegees, a special collab release with POLITIC skateboards, and more!

Dates for the programming will be announced closer to opening night.