Last weekend, RJ and I met up with the Peterson family as wakeboarders from all over the world descended on Tampa for the Red Bull Wake Open. The art and sport worlds combined at the event with the Wake Art Project, curated by Kick Start My Art. Local artists were asked what gives them wings (this is Red Bull, after all) and were given wakeboards to create a piece showing just that. RJ was one of the artists selected for the show, and created his board “Captain Awesome,” which depicts his son Duncan as a superhero (with his trusty pup Nor-man by his side). We were thrilled to learn that RJ’s board placed second and we were on hand to watch as his piece was awarded to Raphael Derome, the big winner of the Wake Open! Highlights of the competition, and a shot of Raphael with RJ’s board can be found here🙂

The other awesome boards you see below are the work of Chris Deacon (astronaut board) and Chad Cordoza (tiki board). The other winners were Jacqueline Ann Frierman (people’s choice) and Marlon Huynh (first place), and although I didn’t catch shots of their boards, you should definitely go check out their amazing work! 

After the event we rode the trolley from downtown Tampa to Ybor City with Karyn, Will, and Kat. We stopped at The Bricks (my absolute favorite spot to stop for a bite in Ybor!) for lunch and to check out the Alphabet Show, which included one of my pieces and one of RJ’s. Afterwards we took a short walking tour of the local galleries and took in the sights:)

Good friends, good food, and good art made for an excellent Saturday adventure… one of many to come!