Canvas Surfer

The existential, fluid feeling surfers pursue has been captured in the art of a sandy-blonde surfer girl named Heather Brown. The Chinatown Boardroom hosted her most recent art opening on Tuesday, April 29, coming on the heels of her artistic domination of the Kōkua Festival’s signage and merchandise.

Canvas Surfer

The existential, fluid feeling surfers pursue has been captured in the art of a sandy-blonde surfer girl named Heather Brown. The Chinatown Boardroom hosted her most recent art opening on Tuesday, April 29, coming on the heels of her artistic domination of the Kōkua Festival’s signage and merchandise.

Her eyes glimmered with joy, happy to be sharing her art again with the community. People waited eagerly to buy prints and capture a moment of her graceful welcome. This extraordinarily talented woman has won Hawai‘i’s heart with her surf inspired pieces. “Her (art) work is enigmatic, simple and beautiful with an oriental flare. It exudes her personality,” says her friend Clean.
    Before finding her flow with the brushes, Heather tried other paths including nursing, EMT and architecture. In pursuit of the latter, she moved to Hawai‘i and eventually received a BFA from UH at Mānoa. Currently, her surf art is a popular product, but she also enjoys working in other mediums including acrylics, photography, wood block prints, screen prints, intaglio prints and linocuts.

heatherbrownart.com


Sign my book

Waimea Valley’s open-air amphitheater was packed on Tuesday night, April 29, with hundreds of surfers and ocean enthusiasts who waited patiently for Pipeline legend Gerry Lopez to autograph a copy of his new book, Surf Is Where You Find It. The air buzzed with excitement and people chatted boisterously about how they knew Gerry and swapped stories of surf sessions past.

The audience, ranging from families and admirers to world-class surf legends, exploded in applause, hoots and whistles when Lopez took the center stage for a brief reflection about his life. “I’ve enjoyed a lifestyle that’s embraced surfing throughout the world for 50 years now,” Lopez explained with appreciation. “A lot of motivation for writing this book was to get the stories down on paper before I forgot them,” he continued, chuckling along with the audience.

Gerry read from one of his favorite stories in the book, “Pakala,” about spending time with family on Kaua‘i as a child, growing up surfing the left point with friends and enjoying the tranquility of his surroundings, not to mention a brief run in with the law.

After the reading he narrated a slideshow of the classic images in the book, giving huge props to Rory Russell, Darrick Doerner and Jock Sutherland, who were in attendance and welcomed with uproarious applause. As nostalgia and reflection swept through the crowd, Gerry closed with a quote from the Dalai Lama about peace being the true meaning of life, and likened it to truly living with aloha.