The scraped-up underbellies of skateboards add an organic texture to Betty Stafford's sculptures and hanging works. The scratches multiply when riders slide across curbs, railings and other urban obstacles while performing tricks.

Stafford disfigures and reshapes the discarded boards to create abstract sculptures, wall hangings and mobiles that convey movement. They are carved with a handheld jigsaw and assembled with a drill. Beyond the wood decks, Stafford uses ball bearings and the metal trucks that connect the wheels.

Like many of her low-lying sculptures, the components of "Catch of the Day" (a bird going after fish) fit together with slots and seem to lean into each other around a solid center of gravity. "Fiddlehead" features curlicues that resemble flowers.

Cross-cutting the decks reveals from six to a dozen plies of laminated wood, some darker than others, though bright pinks, blues and greens peek through on occasion. Stafford often leaves the edges unfinished and incorporates the boards' natural bends.

Her bane is removing grip tape, the sandpaper-like coating atop the deck. In the summer, after letting the boards bake in the sun for a few hours, she can peel it off with minimal effort. Otherwise, it can take hours, she says.

Her fractured portraits, inspired by modern English painter Francis Bacon, include a work encased in a purple plastic milk crate and others that use the covers of wooden boxes that once shipped plumbing supplies. Thin, oxidized copper wires culled from boat windows sometimes add a minimalist touch.

"Coffee Break"

"Creature"

Detail from "Ishod"

"Ishod"

"Kingsize Slim"

Stafford has a BFA from the University of Texas, Austin and studied drawing and watercolor at the Art Students League in Manhattan before moving to Philipstown more than three decades ago. She worked in the fashion industry and still draws but began making art with skateboards following the death of her son Sam, an avid rider, in 2013 at age 19.

Skateboards usually contain colorful designs beneath the deck, the part that gets scratched up. Riders will cover the damage with stickers and those images sometimes are reflected in Stafford's work, which caused a stir when a skateboard sculpture was accepted for a recent group show. The gallery asked her to remove any copyrighted images, so she pulled the piece.

Stafford's Ishod and Mask series goes for an Oceanic look, including an image reminiscent of Easter Island. A profile of Bob Dylan during the 1960s conveys lightness because of circles and ellipses drilled into his faux Afro.

No matter what medium she uses, Stafford says her art is "all over the place." Daily walks in the woods help inform her style.

She gets the raw material from 2nd Nature Skatepark in Peekskill and Hacienda Skate Shop in Newburgh. "I've received some seriously broken boards that made me wonder if the skater was all right," she says.

For more of Betty Stafford's work, see bettystafford.com.