This blog was first published on the Terre Creative Studios website. Click here to read the original.

**THE FINISHED BOARD CHILLIN IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS**
📍 *Tamworth, NH*

Artists Alex Jutras and Arthur Anderson, both based in New Hampshire and members of the New Hampshire Art Association, were already making art in the same circles. Alex, a novice surfer just starting to get into skating and snowboarding, was looking to push her art beyond canvases while diving deeper into the board sports scene. She hit up Arthur, a lifelong skater, with an idea.

“Wanna collab on a skate deck?”

At the same time, their friend Theresa MacDowell, also a Board Member at the New Hampshire Art Association, was launching Terre Creative Studios, a brand redefining sustainable living through media and making conscious choices second nature.

Her first project? Terre_It_Up, a campaign about sustainability in skiing and snowboarding featuring upcycled snowboards to spark conversations about sustainable art and winter sports. She was on the lookout for artists to take part.

Little did she know, Alex and Arthur were already brainstorming a project with the same energy.

Then things started picking up speed.

A friend of Alex’s, a sponsored snowboarder, had a stash of boards he wanted gone. So, instead of letting them go to waste, Alex saw an opportunity to turn trash into treasure.

“Mind if I take them for the project?”

**ALEX WORKING ON THE BASE COAT IN HER STUDIO**
📍 *Dover, NH*

It gets better. Luke Boutin, a graphic designer/videographer and one of Alex’s friends, had been in the same scene as Arthur for years. They went to the same college, skated the same NH spots and even had senior thesis projects centered around skate art. Arthur’s mom also was also a teacher in Luke’s school district. Yet somehow, they had never met.

After hearing all the details, Alex was convinced they were destined to cross paths and approached Luke with the pitch.

“You want in?”

“Also, if you paint on the boards and come on a trip for Terre to promote them, we’ll give you free food, room, and board,” she added.

“Well, if there’s one way to get a snowboarder on board, it’s free food,” he said, offering a handshake.

And just like that, Back Alley Boards was born.

**ARTHUR AND LUKE CHECKING OUT THEIR HANDIWORK**
📍 *Manchester, NH*

Alex had run an upcycled brand called Back Alley Clothing for five years, focused on thrifted and sustainable fashion. Bringing an element of the name into their project just felt natural.

“How can we NOT start this business with a name as good as Back Alley Boards?” Luke asked.

So when three artists from the same community, connected by board sports, art school backgrounds, and some pretty wild crossovers, finally came together at the right place and right time, they had their first “board meeting.”

Stepping into their new studio, a repurposed section of Alex’s garage, they looked around and grinned.