Lucas Beaufort is an artist and skateboarder who has been advocating for skateshops through various projects for years using his art and community building. Lucas has celebrated skateshops and the stories behind them in his book and documentary “Heart”. This spring, Lucas asked us, along with Asics, Db bags, Autumn, Pabst, and Pébéo to help support his latest adventure, The Heartsy Tour.
“I decided to reach out to these skate shops in the US and say, can we pick a spot in your city, and then we bring the community together. We paint a spot to give it a second look, more clean, maybe fix some cracks and stuff, and then we invite the whole community to skate for a jam. We offer pizza, drinks, cash for tricks, and then we finish the day at the skateshop. Everybody gets together and just hangs out.”
-Lucas Beaufort
Stop 1 – Atlas Skateshop in San Mateo
“I think tours and events are important for skateshops because skateshops are generally independently owned and operated, so any resources to bring people together and attract energy are really important. I think art in any city or at a skate spot or DIY is important. It kind of shows off the creative spirit and sense of the community that you’re in. Skateboarding and creativity go hand in hand.”
-Ryen from Atlas
Stop 2 – 35th North in Seattle
“Not everybody is in California or New York where you see pros or interact with people from different companies. So when people make the trip to other places and get the community together, I think it means a lot, and it shows support from the brands and puts a face to a brand or even a personality to a skater that a kid might not see growing up in Seattle.”
– Tony from 35th North
Stop 3 – Time Machine in Salt Lake City
“One thing I think is cool about spots that get painted, especially an old spot, like the one that we’re doing, is it gives it a new life. This is definitely one of the older DIY spots here. I think there’ll be a lot of new photos and videos and it’ll look way different than it has before.”
-Ethan from Time Machine
Stop 4 – 303 in Denver
“Lucas is very good at bringing these events together. He always seems to figure out how to bring people from the art community and skate community together and create these events that are open and accepting to everybody.”
-Sam from 303
Stop 5 – Humidity in New Orleans
“I think people got a little too lazy putting everything strictly on social media. I definitely notice when people do come to town, you see the kids get to meet people, and through that they’re going to want to support those brands or buy that product a little bit more because they have this connection with either the artist, the skater, or the team.”
-Philly from Humidity
Stop 6 – Escapist in Kansas City
“Harrison Street’s been here for over 10 years. It’s been an ongoing project that they’ve been doing for a while, and it’s coming into some jeopardy. It’s been a labor of love for everyone and Lucas came in and definitely put his stamp on it with some cool paintings.”
-Nick from Escapist
Stop 7 – Familia in Minneapolis
“Art in public spaces is important because much like skating, it’s a way to express your creativity. Most art and skateboarding go hand in hand. Skateboarding used to take you to some of the worst parts of cities and you’d be playing in it. Some artists go to the worst parts of cities to paint, so it kind of lives in this unified spectrum of play in a weird way. They coincide with each other.”
-Dennis from Familia
Stop 8 – Orchard in Boston
“Doing events and tours are super important for us, now more than ever, with people getting exposed to skateboarding through a phone, through a tv, through whatever. Getting to experience it in person leaves more of a long lasting feel. It makes things feel a little bit more tangible.
-Armin from Orchard
Huge shout out to all of the sponsors for this tour, and to Lucas for bringing us all together.
