Canvas on wheels: Board artists on display at Brewery

When Eleanor Brennan, 25, moved to her boyfriend Ricket Monster's hometown of Carson City nearly a year ago, she noticed there was a void of contemporary,

alternative art.

"I realized there was no place for young people to display their art," she said. "At least not consistently. There were no shows."

Having recently earned a bachelor's degree in illustrating and painting and having acted as curator of several shows, she decided to introduce a new style of art to the area.

She organized some smaller displays at the Feisty Goat, but her first big show is up now in the theater of the Brewery Arts Center.

"So Board: The Ruby Lantern's Skateboard Art Show" features about 75 mostly local artists who transformed skateboards from the shop 702 Skate into works of art.

Many of the artists are fellow tattoo artists who work with Brennan at The Ruby Lantern, but participants also include a wide range, from mothers to children as young as 2 years old.

"No one was turned away," Brennan said. "It's super inclusive."

Tattoo artist Ricket Monster, 25, painted four boards for the show. It's a medium he's used before, but for the first time in a Carson City show.

"It's kind of a sub-culture kind of thing of skaters, tattooing and music all going hand in hand," he said. "Someone just decided to paint a skateboard because they thought it would be cool. Obviously, they were right."

Ruby Lantern co-owner Christopher Arnold, 34, was quick to support Brennan's idea for the show. Born and raised in Carson City, he would like to see his passions more widely represented here.

"This town really needs something like this," he said. "We need something for the youth to do. I think we need to wake up the art community. There's a lot of young artists out there who are overlooked."

The exhibit is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays until July 10. Admission is free, however most of the works are for sale.

Brennan said she wants to make the show an annual tradition, increasing participation each year.