Atlanta ( CNN ) -- Todd Vaught has been skateboarding since he was 10 years old , yet he was caught off-guard by a question from the much younger salesman at his local skateboard shop . `` Are you going to skate this thing or hang it ? '' the salesman asked him . `` It sort of struck me as funny , '' said Vaught , 40 , who works as a designer in Atlanta . `` I asked the guy what he meant . The guy told me , 'Are you going to skate it or hang it on your wall ? A lot of you old guys hang these up as artwork . ' `` The conversation gave Vaught an idea : to create an art exhibit featuring more than 200 skateboard `` decks '' -- the board where the artwork is applied -- from eight artists . `` It is a study of the evolution of skateboard art through the actual art itself and the technology used to apply the art on the skateboard , '' he said . Visitors to the Skate it or Hang It exhibit at the Museum of Design Atlanta can see how skateboard art has gone from simple line `` tattoo '' art to high-end illustrations and actual photography , and how the process is completed . Vaught said the crowds coming to see the exhibit are from `` all different walks of life , '' a reflection of the inclusive nature of the sport . `` Skateboarding is not white kids or black kids or Hispanic kids . It is everybody . ... Everybody can do it , '' he said . `` You can go to a skate park and run into a guy 10 years older than me or 25 years younger , and that 's what I love about it . '' American brings skateboarding diplomacy to Cuba . Tony Hawk catches criminals stealing skateboard . Skateboard school in Afghanistan .
The Skate it or Lose It It exhibit features the evolution of skateboard art . Todd Vaught , 40 , created the exhibit after an encounter at his local skateboard shop . The art show at the Museum of Design Atlanta runs through September 16 .