METAMORPHOSIS

The sport of basketball speaks to so many people in so many ways. Dan Peterson, the founder of Project Backboard, has teamed up with artists to use the beauty of the sport to turn local courts into works of art that are accessible to all.

- Deyscha Smith

BASKETBALL IS AN art form. Everything about the game is intricate and extraordinary, from the game lines that are painted onto hardwood and asphalt surfaces, to the way it’s played and adored around the world. Art, while it should be admired and appreciated, is also meant to be shared.

Dan Peterson always had a love for art and basketball, but he never thought the two could coexist simultaneously. That all changed after he moved to Memphis from Alabama, where he was teaching middle school math and serving as an assistant coach on their basketball team, to work for the Memphis Grizzlies. It was then that he started noticing that some of the outdoor courts didn’t have lines on them, and more so resembled driveways.

Dan was shocked. His initial plan was to hit up the city and get permission to paint basic game lines on the courts, a three-pointer and free-throw line, but then, while at the Pierotti Park near the Raleigh Community Center, he noticed some sculptures next to the park that were painted in funky colors.

“I just thought, Well, if I’m going to paint the game lines and add some color to the key, maybe I can paint the key and the game lines the color Anthony [Lee, a local artist] would want. He came up with something funky for the entire court surface. As soon as we put that down, I was like, Wow this is something cool. We should do this again. From there we kind of jumped in the fire, so to speak, to figure out who are the [local] artists, how do I contact them, how do I work with them?”