Common Grind

Shari White is a skateboard filmmaker based in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2020, Shari filmed, edited, and directed "Credits", a film for Vans that featured an all-female line-up. Shari is currently at work on a section of a Vans global video, as well as other projects that will continue to shine a light on a continually-diversifying skateboard scene.

Despite growing up near a major hub of the skateboard industry in Southern California, Mark Johnsen found and fell in love with skateboarding in a typically familiar way. His interests expanded through the pages of skate mags and catalogues, eventually landing him in at the California College of the Arts for a BFA and subsequently north of the border at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. There, Mark received his MFA and now works as an instructor in printmaking, in addition to pursuing his own work and a variety of other practices.

A childhood spent among eager skate rats in Connecticut eventually pointed Mat O’Brien in the direction of San Francisco, a melting pot for all types of skateboarders. The distinctive lines Mat draws—both on paper and while riding a skateboard—offer just a small peek at the creativity teeming inside his mind. Now living in Portland, it seems like if Mat’s not steeping in some sort of creativity, he’s pouring out a nice cup of it, whether it’s for personal enjoyment or through Otherness, a radical little skateboard company he’s got going on.

Always one to do it her own way on her own terms, Kassy Bailey has continually worked hard at creating the type of life that she wants to live. From playing sports with girls to building ramps and skateboarding with boys while growing up in Cochrane, to now running her own successful business in Vancouver, Kassy has an enthusiasm and work-ethic that echoes the DIY-ethos often associated with skateboarding.

While skateboarding was an on and off interest for Sean Arden in the past, the awe of seeing big airs as a kid never left his mind, keeping him at least loosely tethered to a skateboard over the years. His pursuit of getting that kind of weightless air on a skateboard became more focused as he entered his 40s, and he's been pushing it hard ever since. With a curious mind that he gets to set free in his work, and a habit of setting goals and pushing himself on his skateboard, Sean's found balance on both his board and in his life.

Three times longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English the previous year, Michael Christie had his eyes opened by skateboarding as a kid in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He used the determination skateboarding forged in him to go from working on video parts to working on novels that deal with mental illness, nature, the complexities of humans, and even skateboarding.

From riding skateboards and motorcycles with an incredibly rad group of women in Vancouver, to working with Skateistan in Kabul and Berlin, to getting her Master of Arts in English Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies from Free Universität Berlin, Erika is an extremely motivated and compassionate person with whom it’s always a pleasure to have a conversation.

From horse-trading skateboards as a kid during skateboarding’s bust years, to learning the science of the perfect kneepad caps, Greg Baller lives a life permeated by skateboarding. Off the board, you might find him building props for 22 Minutes, kicking it with his family, or doing just about anything besides sitting still.

In her professional work, Sam Shone is responsible for the day to day operations of the Medical Device Reprocessing Department at UBC Hospital. While she’s only been skateboarding for a few years, Sam is deeply involved in the vibrant Vancouver skate scene as a community leader and Vancouver Skateboard Coalition director.

Having attained what felt like the dream job in San Francisco, family circumstances led to Damon Thorley leaving his job, moving to Bellingham and becoming a father, and trying out a variety of careers before finding his way back to working with Deluxe Distribution.

A dependable contributing photographer to Canadian skateboard magazines over the last 15 years, Jeff Comber is also a senior photographer in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Dentistry, as well as a father.

For all of my life beyond childhood, skateboarding has been a consistent conduit in introducing me to people, places, and ideas outside of my head and home.  I’m interested in hearing about what people do besides skateboarding, what is meaningful to them, what puts food on their table, and what drives them to do whatever it is they do, whether as a career, a passion, or both. But I’m also interested in what place skateboarding holds in their lives and what drew them to it in the first place.  Here on Common Grind, we’ll talk about all of that and more.