don pendleton on art, a grammy, and boone county

When I set out in 2003 to produce Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art, my goal was to be all inclusive and encompassing. Despite these best intentions, however, I failed to represent the work of Don Pendleton. Why? Best I can say it's because: A) I'd never met him; B) he lived in the woods of Ohio; and C) my nose was primarily buried in the archives, garages, and studios of those on the West Coast. So I totally overlooked his significant contributions to the "visual mythology" of skateboarding and for that I've always felt like a big time a-hole. Especially when I later (and finally) met Don after we were thrown together in the art arena for a joint Pearl Jam poster project in 2012. I don't believe we ever talked about his glaring omission from Disposable, but I still feel it's an elephant in the room between us. So, Don, please let this fun-size interview stand as my half-ass mea culpa. I swear if I ever do another book, you'll be the first artist I contact for sure—and not just because you've since become renowned for winning a Grammy Award for the Best Recording Package on Pearl Jam's Lightning Bolt release. —Sean Cliver

SC: So are you actually in possession of an honest to god Grammy Award?

DP: I do! It’s actually pretty heavy and has my name on it and everything. I took it to my mom's house to show her, but it's in my closet right now. I’m really proud of the project and it was a super good time, so it’s nice to have something to remember it by. Not really the kind of guy to put it on full display, but it was a pretty interesting situation. I didn’t go to the awards, but I started getting a lot of texts after they announced it.

Did you ever in a million-billion years think skateboarding would lead to achieving such a reward? How did you make that connection with Pearl Jam in the first place?

Not at all. But it’s seemed like a slow, natural process, I think. Jeff Ament [the bassist] had purchased a few paintings several years prior to that and I did a cover for his solo album in 2012. So when they were working on this, he hit me up for a logo idea and it just happened. He’s a super great, friendly, genuine guy and the process was really easy. I think we both had fun working on it together. Joe Spix was the designer who worked with Jeff to lay it out and Ed [Vedder] was also involved, so there were four of us with Jeff being the main fulcrum for the direction.

You don’t happen to have any friends or family from Boone County, West Virginia, do you?

Both of my parents are from Logan County, which is pretty close to Boone County, so I was exposed to that area quite a bit when I was living in West Virginia. We would go every few weekends. That culture all seemed very normal to me until I was able to travel and see some more of the world—and I don't mean to suggest it’s abnormal, but it's very different and unique to Appalachia, I guess.

Were you familiar with the legend of Jesco White and his cult classic VHS tapes growing up?

Oh yeah. Early on the local PBS station would play it regularly on TV because the documentary was a state-funded student project, I believe. So I was familiar with Jesco right around the time it was done. And it was funny but it didn't seem too over the top to me. Where I grew up is about an hour away from Boone County. I had a copy when I moved to Connecticut for an internship and the people there thought it was fake, like a mockumentary type thing. There are some classic lines in there, obviously, but I’d say that area of Boone county is full of colorful and unique people. And I did meet [Jesco] a few times during college. He would go to bars and tap dance and pass the bucket around. He has a 7-Up logo tattooed on his leg.

Did you have much interaction with Rob Dyrdek when he was just a peckin from Ohio?

I first met Rob when he was probably 15 at a demo in Cincinnati. And then later on he was good friends with my friend John Drake, so I would see him here and there before working for Alien Workshop. After I was there, I dealt with him pretty regularly. Super funny guy, great story teller. I went through an awful breakup one time and was kind of in the dumps... Dyrdek called to give me a pep talk and told me some of his breakup stories and had me laughing. He was like, “Take all your old photos and tear them up and leave them in front of her door,” and I was like “Yeah!” So I have nothing but lots of good stories about Rob. His excitement is pretty infectious and he gets fired up pretty easily. Very stoked for his success—he’s earned it.

Do you think living in the Midwest has had any effect on your professional career as an artist?

I think it’s harder because I never get to meet people unless I work with them and you can't work with people usually until you meet them. So it's a Catch-22, and traditionally I'm not very good socially. So I just kind of hide out here and take what comes. And I think that makes it more of a challenge. I love to visit the West Coast, but I could never live there... I'm just too set in the pace of Ohio. I enjoy the quiet and slow pace out here.

When you look at the world do you see it in terms of lines, circles, and other geometric forms?

Sometimes I really do... I went from the typical skateboarder’s eye of looking for spots everywhere to looking for interesting shapes and angles and colors. And I still get excited to see a skate spot but, for example, I'm in New Orleans right now and being here is an interesting mix of color and shapes and sounds and I feel like that’s just how I interpret space and things around me. And I don’t take the art stuff super seriously, but like skateboarding, I just genuinely have a love for it and, doing it for a living, that part kicks in sometimes.

You just had a shoe line produced in collaboration with Vans. What’s next on the horizon for your work?

I have a line coming out with Volcom and the launch for that will start in the fall. I'm really happy with it... it's kind of a more mature collection. I’m not a spring chicken anymore, so it's nice to feel like the work and projects and products are evolving too. It's all stuff that I would wear and that's important when it comes to putting my name on everything.