The Lucky Slice, a local pizzeria located on Historic 25th Street in Ogden, currently has two skateboard decks hanging on each side of the interior doorway. The decks are painted by local artists.
In November, the restaurant walls will be covered with more than 20 skateboard decks, all painted by local artists. However, the artists of these incoming decks will all be ages 6-18, most of them 10-11.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Weber-Davis Counties are collecting old skateboard decks in any condition for members to paint. The finished artwork will be displayed in The Lucky Slice throughout the month of November and then sold for charity.
The Lucky Slice is less than eight months old. Each month, the artwork on its walls is rotated out; the owners use their business to spotlight different local artists.
Shelby Sundwall, a Weber State University junior majoring in special education, is also an arts and crafts coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club. She said the idea to display art in The Lucky Slice for a fundraiser to benefit the Boys and Girls Club came while she was talking with Mike McDonald, one of the owners of the restaurant.
McDonald said the walls of the restaurant are currently booked with different artists each month up until January.
Sundwall said she wasn’t sure what to do for the project at first, because she thinks the artwork in the restaurant is beautiful and she didn’t want to display just anything on the walls.
“So I was just skateboarding and (it) just dawned on me and I was like, ‘I should just paint skateboard decks,’ because I’ve been wanting to paint my own for a while.”
Boys and Girls Clubs are nonprofit, so all the money raised from the skateboard art will be donated back to the organization.
The decks the children will paint all come from donations, and the group is seeking more. Sundwall said the club has received close to 20 skateboards and that some members of the Boys and Girls Club will bring their own to paint.
A skateboard deck is the part of the skateboard that riders stand on; it is typically made of wood. Even broken decks can be used for the artwork project.
Those interested can donate skateboard decks in any condition to The Lucky Slice, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weber-Davis Counties in Roy, or the Community Involvement Center at WSU. The address for the Boys and Girls Club of Weber-Davis Counties is 5051 S. 1900 W.
Besides skateboard decks for the fundraiser, Sundwall said there is always a need for donations at Boys and Girls Clubs. She said there is a major need for sandpaper to help with this project.
Sundwall said she has some children in the club who choose to be uninvolved with many activities but have been “gung-ho” about this project. She said it’s all they want to do.
After the finished skateboard decks are displayed in The Lucky Slice, the children will take a trip to see them on display.
“They are so excited to go,” Sundwall said, “because after we hang them up, we’re going to go take a picture there, and they’re just excited to feel important. And they should feel important.”
Jesse Cleveland, the Boys and Girls Clubs chair with WSU, is a junior studying elementary education. Her role with the Boys and Girls Club is to plan activities once a month that involve WSU students and the community as much as possible.
Cleveland said Sundwall’s activities help the children stay creative and that “she lets them know they can do anything.” She said the club will be taking donations for this project throughout October.
For community members who want to volunteer with Boys and Girls Clubs, a background check is required. Cleveland said all students registered with the CIC already have their background check done. For students who aren’t registered yet, she said it only takes about five minutes.
McDonald said he encourages people to support local art in its various forms and that anybody who’s willing to display their art in the restaurant is welcome to talk to the owners about it.
The Lucky Slice sponsors other artistic endeavors, such as skateboard and snowboard film premieres. To help promote the fundraiser, The Lucky Slice gave free slices of pizza to skateboard deck donors.
