The exhibit opened Wednesday, July 15 and will run through July 31. At the opening reception, young artists who think Rembrandt is that guy who wrote the Friends theme song mingled with residents whose idea of a night out is a gallery reception at the Museum of Fine Arts. Street artists plied their wares outside the door of the Ellison Center. And the folks at the DAA couldn’t have been happier.

“We thought it would be a fun, fresh event to cast our net a little wider,” said Mary Beth Brown of the DAA. She said the idea for the skateboard showing first came about in the spring, and that it was really the first event of its kind for the association.

She pointed to the rising popularity of street artists like Shepard Fairey, who garnered national attention when he painted the iconic “Hope” poster for then presidential-hopeful Barack Obama. He recently had a popular exhibit at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston.

“It’s a growing field,” she said.“Maybe it isn’t condoned in school, or their parents aren’t crazy about it ... but they’re enthusiastic and crazy about their art.

Some of the artists at the opening reception seemed tickled that their work would be hanging on the walls of such an established art gallery. Many hadn’t really considered their work “art” before this.

“I’m always drawing,” said Christian Fuda, pausing in front of his work. “Now that they’re doing this, I decided to buy a board and put the design on it.”

For Brown, the influx of new blood is just what the DAA is hoping for.

“Our mission statement is ‘for the artist in everyone,’” she said. “I want to focus on that.”