All Hands on Deck 2026

I am excited to share that I have a piece in All Hands on Deck 2026, a skateboard deck art show and silent auction at Beyond the Pale Brewing in Ottawa. This is my fourth time participating, always so much fun.

All Hands on Deck is a celebration of local art and a fundraiser supporting two organizations doing vital work in our community, Operation Come Home and The Ottawa Mission.

The board

My deck for the show is titled, Red-winged Blackbird at Beaver Pond.  I live near Beaver Pond in Kanata and see these red-winged blackbirds all the time. They can be noisy and in the spring they are putting on a show, flashing their red shoulder patches to you know, get some attention. Can often see a few hanging out on the cattails.

My deck for the show is titled Red-winged Blackbird at Beaver Pond. I live near Beaver Pond in Kanata, and I see red-winged blackbirds there constantly once spring starts. They certainly have a lot of presence. You hear them before you spot them, that sharp, insistent call that seems to stake a claim over the cattails. They are putting on a show, advertising territory and attention, and the pond becomes a stage.

I often see a few hanging out right on the cattails, balancing in the wind, calling back and forth across the water. For me, that mix of sound, movement, and bright red against the muted browns and greens of early-season marsh is exactly what this Birds of my neighbourhood series is about. These are not rare sightings or far-off wilderness icons. They are the birds that live beside my daily routes, marking the seasons, and turning familiar places into something worth looking at closely.

This board is painted it in acrylics, and it is rooted in the same ongoing practice that drives my Birds of my neighbourhood series, paying attention to ordinary, local wildlife and letting it carry a surprising amount of presence.

Why I am sharing this

A lot of art promotion can feel like it is only about visibility. In this case, there is a very practical reason to share it, the more people who know about the auction, the more support flows to the charities.

I also want to thank Daniel Martelock, Beyond the Pale’s art curator, who puts an enormous amount of work into organizing and curating All Hands on Deck and bringing artists together to make the show what it is.

Operation Come Home supports youth experiencing homelessness and precarious housing, and The Ottawa Mission supports people facing homelessness and hunger. If you have ever wanted an easy way to support local services while also collecting a one of a kind piece, this is a good one.

How to take part

The boards are sold through an online auction using MobiBid. 

1. Go to the MobiBid link https://mobilbid.co/url/onUcAWF0

2. Register using either your email address or phone number. Or login if you had participated in previous AHOD auctions.

3. You can now browse all the boards, I recommend favouriting the ones you like as you go so you can more easily find them as you go. My board is #146!

4. As of April 20th you can start making bids, remember a portion goes to charity, so be generous. Auction closes at 8pm on May 3rd.

Next, go see the boards at Beyond the Pale (250 City Centre Av. Unit 108. Ottawa). They look so much better in person than they do in the photos. The Beyond the Pale taproom gets transformed into a full on deck gallery for this, with over 287 boards lining the walls, so it is worth visiting in person even if you are not bidding.

Key dates:

Auction dates: April 20 to May 3 (online auction) 

Closing party: May 3 at Beyond the Pale Brewing (DJs, some parking lot skateboarding, and last minute bidding) 

Auction closes: 8:00 PM on May 3 

Thank you for supporting local art, and more importantly, for supporting organizations doing real work for our neighbours.

Mark