Scott Lenhardt’s brushstrokes have graced some of Burton's most iconic boards for over two decades. Based in Vermont and coming off a year-long exhibition in the The Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum in Stowe, Scott recently decided to auction his sketches and final art alongside the boards that they originally decorated.
Contained within this auction are the Dragon Series, the Specials, the Motions, the Face Series, and the Omen Series, each board a testament to the era it represents. Lenhardt is extending an invitation to become an owner of history.
When I saw Scott auctioning off some of his life’s work I had to reach out and find out more.
So, my burning question is why now? What brought you to decide you were going to auction the majority of your work?
I had the museum show last year in Stowe and that scratched an itch of sharing it all with people and getting it out of storage. I think once I saw it on the walls I felt like, ‘Oh, yeah, I can't put this back into storage and I don't want to hang it in my house.’ Never get high on your own supply as they say.
Totally. It’s a cool format with the inclusion of the boards.
It just sweetens the deal. you get the board, the art that goes with it, and the sketches. I like the auction platform. Anyone can bid and get these things.
A lot of these pieces are very closely connected to pro models and I'm wondering if you see a lack of promodels nowadays.
I don't know. Those were great. It just reminds me of pro wrestling. You have characters. Every sport has it. I mean snowboarding still has it. It accentuates the character.
Is that something you ever struggled with when you were working with a pro? Are you ever feeling like you're not really on the same page when it comes to concepts?
That's a good question. I think we usually land somewhere. We have lots of conversations and it gets somewhere. Sometimes it can take longer to whittle it down to something simple, but It's always been pretty good. There's Shannon. That was the first one and I was freaking out and then Ross and Danny.
Scott Lenhardt from Shem Roose on Vimeo.
I liked something you said in a video embedded in this post by Shem Roose, which was basically you finding a similarity between drawing lines and riding them.
That's a common question or that's come up a lot like what's the similarities between snowboarding and art? I thought that was a good one. There is the same feeling you get, pretty neat, although we haven't had much snow here in Vermont.
Is there any piece that sticks out to you as the hardest to imagine letting go of?
This is a big lesson for me in letting go and stepping into the unknown with the auction. I have no idea how this is going to go. I hope it goes well. I hope they find good homes. I think the early ones, the Shannon board and the Ross board, they mean a lot and they've gotten me places. They're like old friends.
I like commitment to forcing new work.
I've had people reach out like, "Is everything okay? What's going on? Are you alright?" I think that's part of it. It's like you got to wipe off the table. I want to make new things and it just felt bad putting those back in storage.
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