How's Thou Art

A LOOK INSIDE THE HAWAI‘I ART SCENE TO WHET YOUR PALETTE
Photo: Hilton Dawe

Dave Homcy

Once upon a time, surf movies meant something. But by the late ’90s, the movies had turned to videos and then eventually turned to flicks, leaving surfers with a formulaic and segmented view of surf culture and more so, the world, as locales mattered little compared to the waves. Snap, cutback, tail slide, tube ride, air, floater; Repeat.

Meet one of the renaissance leaders of the movement to make surf movies cinematic again—Dave Homcy. This quiet North Shore resident has pulled the trigger and harnessed the imagery of such deliciously refreshing surf films such as A Brokedown Melody, Shelter, One Track Mind, and Sliding Liberia. “A friend of mine just told me that there are no squares in nature. This is why I love shooting on 8, 16, and 35mm motion picture film,” says the humble surf cinematographer. “There are no pixels. Film, like nature, is round, handling light and mood better than video.”

Dave Homcy, along with a few others such as Thomas Campbell and the Malloys, value an actual story in their films. As shown in his recent and political film Sliding Liberia, Dave projects the stories behind the faces; the faces of real people living in the places we as surfers may be visiting. “As a cinematographer, it’s my job to paint pictures through motion, work with light, and make viewers feel emotion.” It’s guys like Dave we have to thank for adding “the feeling” back into a new era of surf cinema. —Beau Flemister
davehomcy.com

Tom Stone

Photos: Heff
Tom Stone is not a shaper. He’s not a board builder, glasser, sander, airbrusher or CAD softwear engineer. Tom Stone is a cultural practioner. He carves papa he‘enalu.
There’s no need for templates or calipers. The grain of the wood is Tom’s guide to the outline and shape of the board. When Tom receives a piece of wood fit to be carved into an olo, kiko‘o, alaia or papio board, he harnesses its mana, meditating on the wood’s transformation back into the stream of energy as a surfboard. “I perpetuate the wood’s life, not death,” says Stone, as he glides his hand planer down a smooth length of koa. “It’s not that the tree came down and died, but instead, it’s going through a metamorphosis.”

Mango, wiliwili and koa all possess different properties of flex and flotation and offer a different experience for the surfer. Tom cuts a basic shape out of his raw material with a chainsaw, uses a steel ad to chisel out a rail and a block planer for fine-tuning. The boards are sealed with traditional dyes and waxes, utilizing traditional ingredients passed down through chants and story.

The boards are raw and imperfect, the complete opposite of the homogeneous shortboard of the 21st century. And for Tom, that is the beauty and uniqueness of each board. Every piece of wood that becomes one of his traditional carvings has a personality and a story. It is up to the individual to give the board a history. —Kevin Whitton
Hawaiibc.com

Andrew Miller aka “DrewToonz”

You may not necessarily know what artist and animator DrewToonz looks like, but any visitor or resident on the North Shore has inadvertently seen his work. Remember all those abandoned, broken down and stripped shells of vehicles on the side of the road that magically became painted in color and vivid scenes of animated art? That was Drew. Or the Triple Crown Pipeline Masters beach park mural? Again, Drew.

“I painted the waves as well as the crowd of spectators. As people would come up to me as I was painting the mural, I would paint them in, and by the end of the contest I had painted 1000 people from real life in the mural,” recalls Drew.

But on the North Shore, this surreal perception of a cartoon world, painted by a man inspired heavily by “The Simpsons,” may not be too far-fetched. Maybe the North Shore really does have its Barts or Homers, its bullies and stoned bus drivers. Other projects Drew is famous for include the educational Junior Lifeguard Movie, the Volcom produced Dawn of the Stone Age, and even doing art on surfboards bought by the likes of Adam Sandler. “Art and surfing are two things people want to get paid to do, but nine times out of ten, you have to get a job shoveling shit or hammering nails cause it don’t pay the bills.” Drew further recommends that aspiring artists going to school and add some business classes to their schedule in order to learn the lingo to avoid becoming a starving artist such as himself. —Beau Flemister

Clark Little

The Waimea shorebreak charger that traded in polyurethane and fiberglass for a camera and water housing is on to something special. Clark Little leads the charge of self-made photographers in Hawai‘i by breaking the mold of shooting pro surfers deep in the pit or perfect empty Pipeline shots. Instead, he’s capturing the uniqueness, mood and beauty of water as waves interact with the shoreline and attracting the interest and eye of countless ocean lovers, not just wave-starved surfers.

Clark quickly moved beyond starving artist and elevated to successful photographer with the awe-inspiring moments of light, water, sand and sky, taken from his tumultuous vantage point. A savvy business man, he invested in the right equipment to power his operation and is a one-man band from the time he depresses the shutter button till the production printer spits out a sharp and dynamic image to be mounted and sold in art galleries and at retailers across the state.

Since his recent success, many a surf photographer has tried to mimic his style and snap the shorebreak relationship, but Clark’s knowledge of the surf zone, perseverance and willingness to put himself in harm’s way for his Clark’s-eye viewpoint is apparent in the quality of his craft. With thousand of waves crashing onto beaches everyday and each one of them different and unique, Clark Little’s influx muse will always keep him searching for the next shot. —Kevin Whitton    
clarklittlephotography.com

Heather Brown

At first glance, with her free-flowing blonde hair and love of all things oceana, you’d be forgiven if you mistook Brown as just another bronzed, beautiful North Shore fixture. But there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Heather Brown, as she has cemented herself and her artwork (a mix of ocean-inspired pieces highlighted with broad, clean lines and brush strokes) into one of the most prominent surf-themed gigs around today. It seems that Heather is just now hitting her stride as an artist as her art is turning up everywhere as of late. From her Kokua Festival merchandise and event posters to the hipsters adorned in her T-shirts, Heather Brown’s artwork abounds.

The past year has seen Heather contracted by Rip Curl to be their “Artist of the Search,” an impressive undertaking to say the least. Not relegating herself to just an acrylic medium, she also has an impressive eye when it comes to photography and other types of prints. In the future, Brown is expanding her art east, setting up galleries and shows in Japan in the coming months. As Brown readies herself to take over Asia, we look for this hometown girl to continue impressing us with her vibrant use of color. —Jeff Mull
Heatherbrownart.com

Nat Wooley

Let us introduce you to Nat Wooley, a man with a Yoda-like mastery of spray-based surf designs. At 26 years of age, Nat grew up honing his surf skills amid the seven-mile stretch of wave-drenched paradise affectionately known as the North Shore of O‘ahu. As Nat grew older, he developed a passion for all things spray paint, taking special note of the tags sprawled across Honolulu’s city blocks.

In no time, Nat began coming up with a few designs of his own that began showing up on the decks of some of the word’s best surfers. “I grew up with those guys,” says Nat, “and I’m stoked to help them out. You know, if some of the designs I do for them help them get noticed and get a few more shots…I’m stoked.”
Since getting into spraying boards, Nat turned his backyard operation into a full-time business where he’s decked out the likes of Freddy Patacchia, Joel Centeio and the rest of the crew on the North Shore with his own artwork.

Currently working alongside Eric Arakawa cutting and spraying boards, Wooley has recently elevated his craft to another level, starting his own clothing line featuring his own unique works of art under the moniker On The In-Side. In the future, look for Wooley to continue producing some of the most progressive and eye-catching board sprays around. —Jeff Mull