Self Portrait Project — Lev: Building the Dream Hill

For my self-portrait project, I decided to build a skate park. While I knew this was a big job, I also knew that I would be able to use this project long after it was finished. I chose this project because I had already planned with a friend to build the park, so when I heard that it was time to decide on our self-portrait projects this was just the thing, since I also highly enjoy skating. Much thanks to my friend and partner in building the park, Menashe Link, without him, the park would still be a bunch of lumber on the floor of the barn. He taught me so much in this process, and I could not have done it without him. When I was deciding on the visual component, I wanted it to show the full picture of the park, so it was pretty easy to decide on a video of me actually skating on the park. In building the park, there was a lot of work to do. My friend and I worked twice a week, usually for three hours. Most of the days, I was already tired out, because we worked in the evening, so that was not exactly ideal. But it was also decently easy, because most of the tools we used were either easy to use, or I had already used them before. In the video, there are three types of ramps. The first ramp is the starter, the second ramp is a mini kicker ramp, which I do not actually use, and the last three ramps are the quarters, which were the first to be assembled and completed. As you can see with the second photo, and the completed product in the first photo, all the ramps are covered in a brown sheet, which we refer to as “press-board”. We applied this to make the ramps both last longer and have a smoother feel. I loved this project, because we have been able to use it long before it was finished, so it was very fun to mess around with, improve my skills, and try a few tricks.

See his presentation: https://youtu.be/TgwrhbxBzDE