Plank Canvas Art Show Merges the Art World With Skate Culture for One Night

When Denver artist and skater Kyle Garlock found himself with a pile of trashed skateboard decks at the beginning of last year, an idea was born: Rather than let the chipped and cracked boards go to the landfill, why not repurpose them into canvases for artists to experiment with?

Just a few months later, that idea became an event that not only presented captivating works by dozens of creatives from Denver and beyond, but also brought together an array of different communities to mingle, have fun and experience an unconventional art show in an unconventional setting.

And now it’s back for round two. This year’s Plank Canvas Art Show will be held on Saturday, May 20, at the Denver SquareHouse, an indoor skate park just north of RiNo that also serves as one of two locations for the skateboard-education company Square State Skate.

As Square State Skate's creative director, Garlock works alongside owner Brian Ball, managing director David Biddle and a prodigious team of instructors to facilitate skate lessons for Colorado’s youth in the form of comprehensive PE programs, after-school sessions and weekend and summer skate camps. The group has built an extensive community in Denver and Boulder that is fueling the Colorado skate scene from the ground up. And when combined with the plethora of talent in Denver’s art scene — from street art to fine art and everything in between — a dynamic intersection of creativity and experimentation is found.

“I want to encourage and invite imperfections,” Garlock says, adding that this year's show includes a wide variety of mediums, such as painting, photography, woodworking, digital art, electronic installation, and the use of epoxy resin and even gold leaf.

“I think some people are looking at it as an excuse to get weird," he says. "There’s some wild ones this year. It feels really experimental, really like throwing things against the wall.”

And just like skateboarding, this kind of art-making is all about improvisation and being able to adapt. “It can be frustrating and a little bit scary,” Garlock says. “Purposely putting yourself in situations where you’re like, ‘Uh, how am I gonna get out of this one?’ I think [that] can be a lot like skateboarding. But if you showed up every time and did the same four tricks, you’d be really good at those four tricks, but I don't know if you’d have any fun. It’d feel a lot like practice, not like play, and this is supposed to be play!”
The event has grown to include sixty artists this time around, most of whom are local to Colorado and the Denver metro area. These creatives range from local legends such as Paul Heaston to artists like Emily Moyer and Raymundo Munoz, in addition to dozens of other makers and creators excited to see what they can do with a warped piece of wood. “There are just so many different pockets of people participating this year...and it adds dimensionality,” Garlock notes. “We’re all in it together.”

Four boards in this year's show were designed by members of Access Gallery, a nonprofit organization and gallery in the Art District on Santa Fe that creates and fosters arts experiences for young people with disabilities in Colorado. Garlock has also commissioned a collaborative board made by kids from the Structured Learning Services Department at Eagleview Elementary School, where he used to work.

“It’s all about enthusiasm. It’s not about ego and it's not about money,” he says. “The money that it makes goes directly into making it more fun. There's a lot less pressure when there's no success rate; that’s not the goal.” Instead, Plank Canvas aims to bring together like-minded people, create community and provide an outlet for artists.
“Community is an excuse to be yourself," says Garlock. "I feel like there are so many instances, at least in the arts sphere, where you’re kind of holding your breath and you’re tense, like you’ve got this imposter syndrome. But this allows you to just enjoy the art if you enjoy the art, and enjoy the food if you enjoy the food. … You should feel like you can come in without having to be like, ‘Am I cool enough?’

“There’s something special about it being once a year," he adds. "It's a fleeting thing…a moment where ego is hopefully suspended and you’re able to just see art and community in a way that I don’t think is presented very often in Denver and maybe elsewhere.”

Plank Canvas 2023, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 20, Denver SquareHouse, 4321 Broadway, Unit 4. The event is free; 100 percent of art purchases go to the artists. Find more information at @Plank_Canvas_Show on Instagram.