Show Dates

Chinatown Yacht Club, Rich Richardson
6'0 shortboard
"I like the juxtaposition of the grittiness of Chinatown with the snottiness of yachting. The further west I move, the closer I get to the East. And those who have moved to Hawaii from China head East until they get to The West. I like this place where cultures collide."
Originally from California, Rich has a Masters degree of Creative Arts Interdisciplinary Studies, from San Francisco State University, and has been a working artist in Hawaii for 13 years. He is the Associate Director of The ARTS at Marks Garage in Honolulu where he does curating, public relations, exhibit & performance programming and janitorial work. He was the proprietor of pioneer avant-garde Chinatown art gallery salon5, and is adjunct Professor of Art at Hawaii Pacific University.

Jimbocho, Paul Willoughby
6'0 shortboard
"It's inspired by some ancient books I found in Tokyo. I've always been interested in Japanese visual culture and this board allowed me to use some material I'd been developing for a while."
UK illustrator Paul Willoughby's work has been featured in Adrenalin, The Guardian, GQ, Flaunt and Esquire. Other projects include illustrating an ad campaign and website for Nike and working as a guest illustrator for Italian fashion label Softcore on a range of clothes for the Japanese market. He also co-art directs an independent movie magazine called Little White Lies and works as part of a design consultancy called The Church Of London.

Roots, Jef Hatsel
5'10 Fish
"The monogram contains the first(alpha) and last(omega) letters of the Greek alphabet--symbolizing eternity, or eternal. The "kanji" looking characters at the bottom translate "roots" in Japanese hiragana. The inspiration and why? "Because besides Jesus, only surfers can walk on water." Jah Rastafari Manifest."
Jef is an independent artist and graphic designer based out of Honolulu. He is also the owner and the creative mind behind Poetree, a design studio and its own apparel line. You can find many of Jef's logo design and artwork on limited editon t-shirts, skateboards, surfboards, and snowboards for many well known Hawaii and international clients.
When asked about the name Poetree and the meaning behind it, Jef answers, "Poetree is the rooted and enlightened life on earth. It was inspired from a story of a sacred tree that stood inverted--whose roots all pointed to heaven.

Golden Apple Splatters, Eric Walden & Brian Michler
6'0 Shortboard
Resin work
Metallic Gold Tint with pigment abstract

Honolulu Honey WWII Bomber, Eric Walden & Brian Michler
9'1 Noserider
Black pigment and silver lamination with fabric inlay, resin work, and glass on fin.

Category 5, Eric Walden & Brian Michler
8'6 winged pin
Hurricaine swirl lamination with tint deck and resin pinline. Custom glass on flex-fin.

Can You Get To That, April Lee
6'0 shortboard
"It all started with my mom... (in more ways than one!) She's been out of the country meditating for 8 years and upon her arrival in Hawaii one of her first observations was the quality of headlamps on cars. She likened their brilliance to diamonds and spoke as if the lights would be the final deciding factor in the purchase of a new car. I began photographing head and tail lights all over Honolulu with the thoughts of pairing them with nipples from my photo stock (taken for an unfinished "Nipple Quilt" in college...) and various other forms of "Aureolae" for a gigantic photo collage - which eventually became this board. Blooms, moonbows, coronas, nimbi, halos, auras etc. There are many manifestations of these aureolae, these glowing zones, launchpads for taking flight. Albert Falzon uses similar symbolism in his epic film "Morning of the Earth," where flashes of holy halos eclipse the surfing footage when IT happens - "winged moments," for instance Gerry Lopez all zen-ed out at Pipeline. "Can You Get to That" is a song off on Funkadelic's album "Maggot Brain." Bright lights, soft glowy aureolae and surfing — you'll be flying!"

Shakatastic, Rona Awber Bennett
6'0 Fish
"I love to surf. I'm not a great surfer, but surfing makes me happy. I hope this board spreads the stoke to you."
Rona is a mixed media artist who explores themes of Happiness in her work. With a background in photography, many of her pieces incorporate photographic images and sculptural forms. She enjoys making work that is engaging and accessible to wide variety of people.
She is also co-owner and co-designer of Fighting Eel, a contemporary women's clothing line based in Hawaii. When not working, she enjoys surfing, watching movies with her husband Jeremy, eating ice cream and daydreaming about her dream house.

Water Leopard, Maile Yawata
6'0 shortboard
"I saw a blue leopard skin dress for sale on the street in front of the gallery and bought it for a dollar. It became the inspiration for the surfboard design. I wanted it to look like the ocean floor viewed from the surface of the water. I work in the mediums of printmaking, drawing and painting and make mosaic tile murals with children in the public schools. I'm now working on a series of images which imagine my mother's life as a young girl, travelling back and forth between Hawaii and Japan. The art of Yoshitomo Nara influenced the approach I used. My mother's life has been the inspiration for the metaphorical journeys depicted in this series."

Untitled, Pegge Hopper
9'0 Longboard
Pegge Hopper was born in Oakland, California and attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Milan, Italy was home for two years while Pegge was a designer for La Rinascente department store. Pegge has lived in Hawaii since 1963. She feels very fortunate to be a mother and an artist and live in Hawaii, one of the nicest places on Earth.

Lani Goes, Pegge Hopper
8'2 Round Pin
For the ocean's sake: A silent auction will be held from the show's opening, Wednesday, May 3 through Friday, June 2nd. 25% of the final bidding price will go to the BlueWater Campaign. http://www.bluewaterhawaii.org

Wrapping Octopus, Kandi Everett
9'0 Longboard
"I enjoy looking at and interacting with our friendly and curious octo-pedded pals. They are smarter than dogs, or pigs or horses or our present Commander and Chief. A TAKO is an unusually oft' requested design in my tattoo shop. I have spent a serious amount of time observing these animals under water as I am a SCUBA diver and HE'E fan. They are fun to draw and even more fun to play with. A big Thanks to the folks who chose me to be a part of this show."

Connect-A-Wave, Timothy P. Ojile
7'8 Seventies
"When I was asked by Pegge Hopper Gallery to produce a piece of art with a surfboard as matrix, I immediately was interested. Years ago I painted on anything from driftwood to muslin to string and metal; I added found objects to paintings such as road reflectors and twine; I strapped together plywood and rope. Now I pretty much stick to painting on canvas and paper, so this opportunity to paint a design for something as iconic as a surfboard was of interest to me. I think when people see how creative these designs are, they very well may be enticed to purchase one and be the envy of their neighborhood!"

Pinstriped Fins, Jason Teraoka
"Fins, Skegs, whatever you want to call them, are beautiful objects all on their own. I decided to embellish them a little with some Hot Rod and KustomKulture inspired pinstripes done the old fashioned way, with One Shot enamel, a long haired striping brush called a Dagger and a steady hand. Enjoy."

Da Koi, Eric Walden & Brian Michler
6'0 Fish
All resin. Orange tint. Red, black, and cream pigment work. Glass on fins.