05-03-2025
OFA students use skateboards as a canvas for ‘Ascension' art exhibit
OWEGO, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Tioga Arts Council (TAC) has partnered with an internationally recognized artist to help Owego Free Academy art students tell their story through a unique approach.
Thanks to funding from The Floyd Hooker Foundation, TAC has collaborated with Mark Rivard of Do Rad Things and Owego Free Academy (OFA) to present a community wide event featuring artwork by 150 students called Ascension: A Student Skateboard Art Exhibition. The exhibition opens on First Friday, March 7, in downtown Owego.
Rivard will bring his program Do Rad Things to OFA this week. From March 3 through March 6, Rivard will present a motivational speech and discuss art as entrepreneurship. He will host design sessions using skateboards as a canvas with one-on-one instruction.
According to TAC, Rivard's approach is student-centered. Participants will use the skateboard deck to create a work of art that tells their own story under Rivard's guidance. During the residency, students will also discover the value that their creative vision can have as a profession and as a community asset.
Following Rivard's visit, TAC says it plans to match his efforts and spearhead an Artist as Entrepreneur curriculum to help artists of all ages gain the knowledge and tools needed to build a successful creative career, as well as facilitate a related Public Art Project. TAC says that over time, the program aims to be the first step toward developing a culture of art as a practical form of entrepreneurship and as an act of civic engagement in Owego.
The exhibition will be open on March 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. with an Artist Talk at 6 at Tioga Arts Council, located at 179 Front Street. It will also be on display at Owego Home, located at 173 Front Street; Experience Tioga, located at 200-204 Front Street; and Lucky Hare Owego, located at 17 Lake Street.
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