# 5765 - 2023 First-Class Forever Stamp - The Art of the Skateboard: Skateboard Design by Di'Orr Greenwood, Blue & Red/Yellow

U.S. #5765
2023 Navajo Design
Art of the Skateboard

• Pictures a skateboard deck with turquoise-inlaid, eagle feather, and rising/setting sun design by Navajo artist Di’Orr Greenwood.
• One of four stamps in the Art of the Skateboard set
• Celebrates the artistic diversity in the skateboarding world

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  Art of the Skateboard
Value:  63¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue:  March 24, 2023
First Day City:  Phoenix, Arizona
Quantity Issued:  18,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Pane of 20
Self-Adhesive

Why the stamp was issued:  This stamp, along with the other three Art of the Skateboard stamps, was issued to celebrate the artistry of skateboard decks.

About the stamp design:  The design was created by Di’Orr Greenwood.  It represents her Navajo culture with a turquoise-inlaid design picturing eagle feathers and the colors of the rising/setting sun.  The stamp was created using a photograph of Greenwood’s skateboard deck design.

First Day City:  The Art of the Skateboard stamps were issued in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Desert West Skate Plaza during the Cowtown Phoenix Am skateboarding contest, an appropriate choice for the stamps’ First Day of Issue Ceremony.

About the Art of Skateboard set:  According to the USPS, “These four stamps celebrate the Art of the Skateboard with vibrant designs that capture skateboarding’s excitement and reflect the diversity and influences of the four artists whose work is featured:

Crystal Worl, an Alaskan artist used a blue and indigo salmon formline design to express her Tlingit/Athabascan heritage.

William James Taylor Jr., a self-taught Virginia artist created an energetic red and orange graphic abstraction.

Federico “MasPaz” Frum, a Colombian-born, Washington, DC-raised muralist painted a stylized jaguar.

Di’Orr Greenwood, of Arizona represented her Navajo culture with a turquoise-inlaid skateboard that features eagle feathers and colors of the rising or setting sun.”

History the stamp represents:  Di’Orr Greenwood is a Navajo artist known for her skateboard deck designs.  In 2023, her work was pictured on one of four Art of the Skateboard stamps produced by the US Postal Service.

Greenwood was raised in Sawmill, Arizona, by her grandmother and great-grandmother, with her entire family always “pushing her to be the best at whatever she does.”  Her interest in art started early.  She learned wood burning and flute making from her uncle, Virgil Teller, a master flute maker and player.  When her family moved to Phoenix, Greenwood learned to skateboard.  At first, it was merely a form of transportation.  She said “I didn’t have a car so I was skating everywhere and I got really good at navigating my skateboard.”  She went on to become a professional instructor and qualified to try out for the US Olympic Skateboarding team, making it to semifinals.

Greenwood later learned how to make her own skateboards and went on to run her own distribution hub.  When discussing her deck art designs, she said “Any art that comes from me is definitely ancestral based… It’s more of a feeling.”  She likes to include traditional Navajo teachings such as the four directions, four sacred mountains, four seasons, and the four elements.  All Greenwood’s designs are done freehand, the sign of a truly impressive artist.