What does it mean to be “in service to the game”? I feel a natural inclination toward service. My love for basketball urges me towards service. I see an inherent alignment between service and practice, particularly that both strengthen one’s connection to the game. Often I think about ways in which I can go beyond simply documenting and playing, and be more of a custodian or emissary to basketball; to the upkeep and protection of courts.
Sometimes I’ll leave a basketball at a court. Pay it forward. In my car is a net I found. I keep it on the off-chance I can hang it on a naked rim somewhere. The artist Jeremy Kaplan executed this act of service model with his Gold Nets Project. He turned custodial upkeep into performance art, while always keeping the game in focus. In very plain terms, court upkeep is labor. But, in recent years renovation has transformed into art work and works of art; distinctions I’ll make clearer.
Project Backboard is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that renovates public basketball courts into large-scale works of art, while maintaining and even improving the structural use. The organization has renovated over 30 courts into inspiring, creative spaces of play since 2015. These “works of art” (the finished piece) have been designed by noteworthy modern artists like Sophia Dawson, David Huffman, and Faith Ringgold. The week I moved to New York City the organization posted a video of the artist Andrea Bergart shooting hoops at their next install location. In the near background of the video I saw my apartment tower. Kismet.
The finished courts are marvels. Drone footage best captures their visual magnitude, while visiting one of the finished courts to see pick-up games and families enjoying the space conveys the community impact. But, before the victory lap comes the work. As a first-time volunteer* I witnessed and participated in the complete process, the “art work.” And renovating a court is labor. It’s not intense, but it requires time, patience, repetition, and a lot of bending over. But the further you go, creativity starts to seep into the process and new challenges arise that transform the labor into making art. My experience was both service to the game and the art, which resulted in a connection I’d not anticipated.
Edwin of S.A.V.E. Surfacing, LLC
There’s a shared action of art-making between the artist who has produced the original work or rendering, and the install team who reproduces the work on the court. Some steps in the process require no artistry like base coats and laying a chalk grid. Once the grid is down the team divides into quadrants and sketches the rendering by hand. Standing on the McCaffrey Park court in Hell’s Kitchen, I was reluctant to begin. Making my first chalk stroke was a struggle. I haven’t traced a damn thing since 8th grade. I quit art that year, despite a natural talent and love for it. My 8th grade art teacher yelled at me for elaborating on the assignment and made me erase my embellishments. As a teenager I decided if this was art, then I was done with it.
The first chalk stroke on the court in Hell’s Kitchen sucked. But, I did it. Hated it, but kept going. Before long the design took form. I gained confidence, made bigger strokes, and moved quicker. I felt like I was 10 again, back when I used to trace or copy my favorite comic book characters in my sketchbook.
As the colors are put down, the court slowly comes alive. Parents would be in the park and shout encouragement. Children on recess would peer through the fence, glance at the rendering posted by NYC Parks, and then look back at the court with wonder in their eyes. It was clear the impact on this park would be immediate.
Bergert designed the court with a community impact in mind.
“I hope to create a more inclusive basketball community where people feel invited to express their individuality and get involved in any way they want,” she wrote in an email. “ I see painted basketball courts as a way to expand and develop how people can participate in an urban basketball community.”
artist Andrea Bergart
Throughout the country, and now on a global scale with installs in Puerto Rico and Japan, the Project Backboard courts activate community spaces. Nationally outdoor spaces were designed around use, and less so interested in the marrying of function and art. (Although some examples exist like the Jim Miller-Melberg designed hoops.) No knock to the parks services around the country. Maintenance alone is a tall order for every park. Budgets are tight and often reduced and allocated elsewhere (i.e. police, development). Which is what makes the movement of independent, non-profit organizations with missions towards public service so vital. They become a teammate to the public sector. These projects are also politically fortuitous for cities as they produce vibrant, visual improvements to neighborhoods.
One day, with the Hell’s Kitchen project paused while a layer dried, we took a field trip up to Harlem to see the Faith Ringgold court at St.Nicholas Park. The court was swarming with kids. Some still in their school uniforms, playing no game in particular, but shooting with a few basketballs. Just a cluster of kids getting buckets. At the other end, rotating games of two-on-two. There were other courts within the park, but this one had all the action.
Faith Ringgold court in St. Nicholas Park, Harlem.
Back to making art.
Norman Mailer once said, “writing is spooky,” suggesting that we sometimes cannot trace the source of words. This spooky idea of not knowing where art comes from gets negatively imprinted on people who don’t consider themselves artists. They feel like they don’t know how artists even begin. That idea scares them. They say things like “I could never do that. How would I even start?” As we got to the sketching stage of the installation that same fear arose within me. But, I was there and agreed to volunteer in the project. I had to draw.
The further we got and as the sketch was completed it was exciting to drop that first color of paint. It kept coming to life with each new color. When uncertainty is presented, how we respond shows our character. But, forging ahead and doing the work can lead to brilliant conclusions. Volunteering on this project unlocked a dormant creativity. Now, I think about designing my own court. No ideas yet, but before this project it was never a thought. It gets me thinking about that reluctance that can occur in art making. Bergart shared some of her process and it should be encouraging to those who don’t know where to begin. She writes:
“I begin by making many small drawings that explore ideas I’m currently interested in or images that are stuck in my mind. I draw freely and intuitively and the images usually begin to guide me to other less familiar possibilities. As the drawings accumulate, some seem more suited to being mural sized images and I trust that impulse.”
I’m no expert or guru, but when I think about playing basketball or writing or photography or even art, I see a clear process of service and practice. The first step to any practice is to begin practicing, even if you don’t know what you’re doing. Make something up and explore it. You have to start. I remember one day on the court Sam Peterson of Project Backboard said, “this is just the process that makes sense to me.” Seven years later, the organization has produced a vibrant collection out of a simple process of laying a grid and sketching the work. You have to start and respond to what the process reveals. Along the way seek experts. Find gurus. Ask for help. Be a volunteer. Be an apprentice. Be curious. Be observant. Ask questions. Don’t allow uncertainty to grow into fear. Experiment. Fail. Do it differently. Do it the same. Over and over.
There’s more, but that’s a start. Always start.
Sam Peterson of Project Backboard
For more photos and reflections on McCaffrey Park click here.
Thank you to Project Backboard, S.A.V.E. Surfacing, LLC, and Andrea Bergart for welcoming me into their project.
*Full disclosure: Project Backboard upgraded me from volunteer to paid labor on the installation. However, this article is not included in that agreement and is not sponsored content.