Montana State students and community artists create skateboards to support local parks

BOZEMAN - Twenty Montana State University students presented their skateboard designs in the 2026 Deck Show at Bozeman High School this month, bringing together artists and skateboarders from across Montana to support skatepark projects in Bozeman and Ennis.

The students spent the fall semester designing skate decks, which cover the underside of a skateboard, in a digital visualization class taught by graphic design professor Jeffrey Conger in MSU's College of Arts and Architecture. Their efforts, alongside that of more than 40 local artists and 10 students eachfrom Bozeman, Gallatin and Ennis high schools, culminated in an online benefit auction that is open through Feb. 26. Proceeds from the 2026 Deck Show will go toward the Ennis Lions Club Skatepark and Skate Alliance of Montana.

A public reception for the show will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at Bozeman High School, where the skateboards will be on display until early March in the Robert and Gennie DeWeese Gallery. The gallery is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, with check-in required at the school's main office.

"Deck shows have a long tradition in the skateboarding culture as catalysts to raise awareness and garner funding support," Conger said. "This is a wonderful community opportunity for creatives to come together to support two exciting skatepark projects. The exhibition is the perfect collaboration between MSU students, high school students and community artists."

In Ennis, the community hopes to build a 6,000-square-foot skatepark, establishing an engaging space for the skate community to gather and enjoy the sport. High school skaters met Conger during the Fourth of July parade in Ennis while fundraising, sparking a conversation on how to foster community engagement and develop unexpected fundraising opportunities. After an author event held at MSU on Feb. 5 in conjunction with the 2026 Deck Show, the Ennis Lions Club Skatepark announced that it received a $100,000 donation from authors Andy Kemmis and Chris Bacon and the Montana Skatepark Association.

The nonprofit Skate Alliance of Montana is looking to fund skatepark projects in Bozeman with support from the 2026 Deck Show.

MSU students brought their designs to life in class with the help of MSU alumni at the Bozeman-based design company SCS Wraps Unlimited. They applied vinyl wraps to the boards, using a hot torch to smooth out air bubbles. Designs ranged from a cow caught in the glowing beam of an alien saucer to swirling Bozeman mountains and a Tyrannosaurus rex roaring "shred."

Additional community sponsors and collaborators for the project include Blazing Arrow Productions, Board of Missoula, the Montana Skatepark Association, MSU's graphic design program and World Boards. Conger and co-curator Patrick Hoffman, the art department head and gallery director for Bozeman High School, also received a $1,000 grant from MSU's College of Arts and Architecture.

"This project made me feel like design can make a difference in ways you didn't expect," said Skye Horowitz, a junior graphic design major from Whitefish. "When I think of careers that help people, I typically think of doctors and nurses, but it's pretty cool to know that I'll be able to use my talent for good in the world."

Horowitz said she has always wanted to create art for others rather than herself, which led her to discover graphic design in high school. At the time, she designed a logo and social media graphics to promote a small business, helping it connect with other organizations in Whitefish and grow the next year. Her skate deck for the auction depicts a wolf leaping to catch a gold star in its mouth underneath a prancing deer, both swathed in muted blue tones.

Caleb Busuttil, a junior studying graphic design, said the project shaped his design process for other classwork that ranges from magazine layouts to motion graphic animation. He created several iterations of his skate deck and received peer feedback before landing on a final draft, learning to work with new file sizes and fewer editing layers in the software Procreate.

Busuttil's design resembled his favorite childhood video game, Mario Kart. The skate deck captures Mario racing on Rainbow Road, side-eying a blue shell about to explode above him.

"Knowing I was able to make this skateboard as good as it was even though I had challenges with Procreate, it made me think I can push through and make something I'm proud of instead of going, 'This will be good enough,'" said Busuttil, who is from Discovery Bay, California.

Hoffman said his high school art students painted and drew their designs by hand onto their skate decks, excited to show their work in a gallery space that's normally dedicated to professional and senior artists only.

"Having students experience exhibiting their work alongside college students and professional artists in our community is exciting in itself, but I think anytime that students are seeing a fundraising component where art is directly enhancing a community project and lifting everybody else up with it, that kind of exposure can be very exciting to a high school student," he said.