Deck The Walls Skateboard Art Show Coming To Vancouver, Featuring Decks Inspired By Past Polaris Nominees
RANGE Magazine, Polaris Music Prize, and Oasis Skateboard Factory are proud to announce Deck The Walls, a skateboard-based art show inspired by the music of Dan Mangan, Shad, Japandroids, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Mac DeMarco, and Black Mountain; six acts with deep connections to British Columbia.
Designed and manufactured by the students of the Oasis Skateboard Factory — an alternative school program for Grade 11 and 12 students in Toronto — they’ve created one-of-a-kind skate decks using similar principles to the Polaris Poster program, where visual artists listen to past Polaris-nominated albums to create “inspired by” works of art.
In an interview with RANGE Magazine, one of the student artists said: “It’s exciting to make art that represents us, but also represents these massive artists. And knowing that it’s going to be displayed in a show for others to see is really cool.”
These skateboards will be displayed from March 7 to April 11 at It’s Okay (2481 East Hastings St.) in Vancouver. A launch party will be held on Thursday, March 7 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. PST featuring guest DJ Kookum (of Snotty Nose Rez Kids). Free admission, RSVP HERE.
RANGE Magazine, Oasis Skateboard Factory, and It’s Okay are all members of the Polaris Partnership Program, a community-based initiative where Polaris teams up with like-minded not-for-profit and charitable groups and businesses to find unique ways to celebrate exceptional Canadian musicians through art.
The Oasis Skateboard Factory is an award-winning alternative Toronto District School board high school program. Oasis students earn high school credits by operating a socially responsible entrepreneurial business where they learn to design the original graphics for and build skateboards, then learn to market and display their works. RANGE Magazine will be featuring the six decks in a multi-page spread for their Spring 2024 issue, available for pre-order at readrange.com/shop.
All six of the musical acts represented on these skateboard decks live in or have strong connections to British Columbia, and have been Polaris Music Prize nominees on multiple occasions. Shad, who obtained his masters degree at Simon Fraser University, has made the Polaris nominee Short List on five separate occasions, the most of any act in Polaris history. Snotty Nose Rez Kids have made the Polaris nominee Short List four times, including for their most recent album I’m Good, HBU? Japandroids, Black Mountain, Mangan and DeMarco have all been nominated three times; Mangan’s most recent Short List nomination was in 2023 for his album Being There, Japandroids’ in 2012 for their album Celebration Rock, DeMarco’s in 2014 for the album Salad Days, and Black Mountain’s in 2016 for the album IV.
We acknowledge the financial support of FACTOR, the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters. 
