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HUNTINGTON -- Whether it is a Marshall University graduate getting his skateboard-inspired art splashed on a national ad campaign and soda cans, or a seminal skateboarder getting honored in Los Angeles, Huntington and West Virginia native skateboarders have been making some noise this summer.

How He Rolls

Fresh back from a visit to Huntington to see his parents, Bryan Ridgeway, a forty-something veteran skateboarder living in Costa Mesa, Calif., is in the spotlight in California for his achievements in the world of skateboarding.

Ridgeway, a skateboard industry insider who has been Tony Hawk's manager, a writer for the world's best skate magazines, a creative director (Neighborhood Skateboards and Orion Trucks) and a consultant whose Start to Finish Consulting firm has advised everyone from Jason Lee ("My Name is Earl," "Memphis Beat") to Rob Dyrdek of MTV's "Rob and Big," has two cases of displays of his decades in the business of boarding in the new exhibition, "How We Roll," an exhibition about the history of African American Skateboarding culture.

That display is up from through Jan. 2, at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.

A 1981 Huntington High School graduate, Ridgeway said they pulled some 1,500 people to the opening in July to kick off the exhibit that is already set to tour to museums in New York and Japan.

Ridgeway, who has been working stateside as a consultant for a non-profit group that runs a skate park in Kabul, Afghanistan (see www.skateistan.org), said he's proud to be a part of the skateboarding family which has always taken anyone in regardless of color or ethnicity.

"Skateboarding has always had every misfit and every group and everyone who wants to be individuals but part of one thing," Ridgeway said. "We're alone and together and part of one family."

You can see a short video from the opening reception of the "How We Roll" exhibit at www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1a50NlmEKM.

In addition to that exhibit, the Torrance Art Museum currently has an exhibit giving props to the first skateboard "zines," the Xeroxed monthly, self-published magazines that helped ignite skateboarding across the nation back in the 1980s and help propel it into the mainstream.

Huntington's 'Monthly Shredder' Revisited

Curated by Rich Jacobs, the exhibit is called, "Here Is Xerox On The Inside Of Your Eyelids."

One of the Zines honored in the exhibit was the Huntington-based, "Monthly Shredder." It was put together back in the early 1980s by then teenagers, Ridgeway, who was the editor along with a staff that included John Wittpenn, Chris Carter, Rick Summerfield, Tim Cline and Cross Lanes residents Gary Anderson and Mort Taber.

Published for more than a year and a half, the "Monthly Shredder" became a 30-page publication with more than 300 subscribers all over the region.

"'The Monthly Shredder' was one of the first to exist and is credited with keeping California skateboard companies and the industry in touch with all grassroots movements," Ridgeway said.

You can see more online at www.torranceartmuseum.com.

Ridgeway said that he is stoked to learn recently that the city of Huntington still has $130,000 in an account to build a skatepark and that local skateboarders are uniting with the Huntington Needs a Skatepark Facebook site, to help make a park happen.

Ridgeway said just a little bit of support for skaters can provide inspiration and fuel for a new generation.

"Skating teaches you so many lessons, and part of skating is overcoming challenges and getting back up after you've been slammed," Ridgeway said. "All it takes is some support. Where would we be if Chris Carter's mom hadn't given up her garden space to build a half-pipe. It just takes a little bit of support."

Carter, who lived in Barboursville, grew up to start one of the skateboard industry's top manufacturers, Alien Workshop, which sold to Burton a few years ago.

Ridgeway said he and Carter and the other Huntington native skaters who make a living in the industry are keeping tabs on the development of the skatepark here and hope to contribute to the process.

Don Drew The Dew

One of those folks keeping an eye on the park is 1994 Marshall University graduate, Don Pendleton, who has not only been "Doing the Dew," but he actually "Drew the Dew."

Pendleton, who is originally from Ravenswood, W.Va., and came to Marshall in the fall of 1989, has been working as a graphic artist in the world of skateboarding since Carter gave him his first job in 1997 as a graphic artist.

Pendleton, who now is one of the main designers for Element, was thrust into the spotlight recently. One of the world's top street skaters, Paul Rodriguez, who is sponsored by Mountain Dew, hand-picked Pendleton to design a new Mountain Dew commercial and can for his second Mountain Dew Green Label Art design.

Rolling with a dragon motif, Pendleton met with Rodriguez and splashed together a playful, colorful artscape that wraps around the new limited edition can as well as in the new commercial featuring Rodriguez rolling and grinding his way through the streets of L.A. on his skateboard.

You can see clips of Pendleton's work online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EjoZImODwI and www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKTmfl8DkZY&feature=related.

You can also go online at www.greenlabelart.com/shopseries/collaboration.php to find out more info about the Green Label Art series.

Pendleton, who has been in contact with the Huntington Needs a Skatepark Facebook group, which has more than 630 friends, said he was inspired by such local skaters here in Huntington as John Drake and Ron Patrick, who owned Iguana Sportgear and let Pendleton on their skateboarding team.

"Skateboarding has allowed me to travel the world, meet most of the people I still call friends and made it possible to be a full-time artist," Pendleton wrote in an e-mail. "I think back on just starting out in Ravenswood and how everyone always told me skateboarding was a waste of time and a trend and I have to laugh to myself about it. Fortunately, my parents were always very supportive...they took me to contests and demos and they encouraged me to do what I wanted, no matter what that might be. The bottom line is that skateboarding has always been a positive influence in my life. It's kept me in shape physically. It's been nothing but 100 percent constructive over the past 25 years."

Pendleton, who credits Patrick with fueling his fire to skate and create through his college years, said he and Carter and the other skateboarders locally, really want to see a new park in Huntington, a city that recently put up signs banning skateboards and threatening $500 fines if kids skate on sidewalks in downtown.

"I'm committed to helping out with getting the park built in Huntington because of my ties to the community and because it's incredibly important that kids have a place where they can skate," Pendleton said. "It blows my mind that in this day and age, anyone would ever try to keep kids from being active and from becoming involved in something that's so positive. If you want to change your future, you've got to invest time and money and resources into the youth of the community. I hope that Huntington will continue to support the idea of the skatepark and that the folks in the community will get on board as well. If you want to keep kids out of trouble, you've got to give them options and you've got to encourage them to stay active with things they love. We're the adults in society; it's our job to make sure kids get those things, and it's the community's responsibility to say, 'If we want a safer, more solid community here we're going to have to invest time and funds into projects for the kids.' "

Courtesy of Bryan Ridgeway

Bryan Ridgeway, a Huntington native and skateboarding industry insider, has displays of his career up at the "How We Roll" exhibit about the history of African American Skateboarding culture t the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.

Courtesy of Bryan Ridgeway

Bryan Ridgeway, a Huntington native and skateboarding industry insider, has displays of his work up at the "How We Roll" exhibit about the history of African American Skateboarding culture at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. The "Monthly Shredder," a monthly publication that Ridgeway helped put together while growing up in Huntington, is featured in an exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum.

Courtesy of Bryan Ridgeway

Bryan Ridgeway, a Huntington native and skateboarding industry insider, has displays of his work up at the "How We Roll" exhibit about the history of African American Skateboarding culture at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. The "Monthly Shredder," a monthly publication that Ridgeway helped put together while growing up in Huntington, is featured in an exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum.

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Courtesy of Bryan Ridgeway

Bryan Ridgeway, a Huntington native and skateboarding industry insider, has displays of his work up at the "How We Roll" exhibit about the history of African American Skateboarding culture at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. The "Monthly Shredder," a monthly publication that Ridgeway helped put together while growing up in Huntington, is featured in an exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum.

Purchase this photo

Courtesy of Bryan Ridgeway

Bryan Ridgeway, a Huntington native and skateboarding industry insider, has displays of his work up at the "How We Roll" exhibit about the history of African American Skateboarding culture at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles. The "Monthly Shredder," a monthly publication that Ridgeway helped put together while growing up in Huntington, is featured in an exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum.

Purchase this photo