While I often write blogs for gallery shows at the Harrison Center, this month I am writing about an exhibit that I curated: a group show called Grind Culture. Grind Culture represents everything that is in my mind when I think about skating: the women I skate with who have become my community, playfulness, the sociocultural history we exist in, the constant cycle of teaching and learning, and the art, creativity, and aesthetics around skating.

Grind Culture is a curated art and play space dedicated to skate and longboarding, featuring work from seven artists and creators. A temporary skate park was created with a quarter pipe built by Owens & Crawley with one of their signature, colorful light features, and multiple variations on a grind rail, crafted and welded by Consuelo Lockhart of the Latinas Welding Guild. The Guild, a nonprofit started by functional artist and welder Consuelo, offers training and certification in welding for women, who currently represent only 4% of that field.

A functional quarter pipe, with a built-in light feature, by Owens + Crawley.

Scott Spitz, who creates handcrafted woodwork under the name Wavecrest Wood, also contributed a series of functional art pieces. His petite cruiser boards are from a variety of wood types, and could serve just as well as wall art as they could be outfitted with wheels and trucks for riding.

Ess McKee, a skater herself, and Katie Krauter also contributed boards, transforming well-loved, broken decks into pieces of art. Krauter also painted a large scale female skater in the style of murals she has painted in businesses and homes across the city.

Emily Schwank is a local photographer who has previously shown work at the Harrison Center, including the 100 porches series during our Social Distance Porching initiative. She joined me and my friends at the Central State Asylum, now a converted complex of apartments and offices, to capture the spirit of Grind Culture: women skating together and learning from each other. We taught two of the women featured in the photoshoot how to skate that day.

Another learning experience was a skating tour of historic Indiana Avenue with former Harrison Center fellow Sampson Levingston, of Through 2 Eyes. Although he typically gives walking and biking tours, I taught him to longboard in the downtown area that was once a thriving economic and cultural center for Black Americans. The accessibility and ease of transport that is found in well-paved areas often reflects governmental or corporate investment. In the video of the tour, which is projected in the gallery, Levingston was able to showcase the mix of smooth roads and broken sidewalks on boards while sharing the story of the historically significant area.

Sampson Levingston gives a history tour of Indiana Avenue while Harrison Center fellow, Macy Lethco, teaches him to skate. This video was created to be displayed in the April 2021 Skate Show on exhibit in the Speck Gallery.

Some of the artists who contributed pieces to the exhibit have connections to skateboarding, whether they are skaters themselves or they have children who skate. Through their differing approaches, Grind Culture embodies the ethos that has developed around skating for me, which has been as much about community as it has a personal journey.

One lesson has been that the opposite of an expert is not an imposter, it is a learner. There is freedom in accepting yourself as a beginner and a learner, even as progress and growth are visible through a process that is both fun and painful (sprained wrists and scraped knees, especially). We accept and define our own boundaries, and that includes the things that represent us and the activities we participate in. There is culture and an aesthetic that is typical of skating, but that definition and representation is as flexible as we want them to be, with ample room for your own version. Grind Culture is intentionally representative of a slightly different version of skate and longboarding, as it centers women, beginners and learners, and a softer, more minimalist energy. My hope is that the show this month and the process of creating it will lead to an expanded community and perspective of skaters.

Grind Culture will be on display and available for play in the Harrison Center’s Speck Gallery for the month of April. The exhibit can be viewed by appointment as well as in our online gallery, where all pieces are available for purchase. Hear more about Grind Culture on instagram, @grindcultureindy and join us for a group skate.

Curated by Macy Lethco

A complete list of the artists featured in the group show:

Wavecrest Wood (artist Scott Spitz, with one board painted by Johnny McKee)

Ess McKee

Owens & Crawley

Katie Krauter

Latina Welders’ Guild

Emily Schwank

Sampson Levingston