“I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came”. (JFK, 1956, http://www.aclibrary.org)
My question which is how can I be a figure that helps connect people back with the sea, basic elements, and the unitive light of nature, while spread the thrill of the art of surf while helping spread the understanding that it is such an aesthetic/energetic delight at the same time? My idea that Im going to stick with is various surfboard fins. It seems like such a novel idea to me for I’ve always enjoyed the imagination catalyzing, humbling, enlightening, and nerve tickling experience of being in the sea. For my imaging I have done a lot of sketching and researching especially old childhood heroes to try and create a fin design thats a blend of all of there favorite styles. I’ve also found inspiration from orcas mostly, if you look at there fins I’m sure you would agree as well that nature provided them with a top notch fin technology. Great Whites surely impressed me as well but I find myself as of late favoring the classic orca design. Each fin I print will also be hand painted by me, either with an abstraction of colors and patterns or a simple timeless symbol such as the aesthetic symbol such as the “Enso”, or maybe even e=mc2 or James Maxwells wave equations. Fins may not save the earth or be a cosmic secret unlocking invention but they do have great meaning to me for its always been an activity in which I come back with answers I hadn’t even thought of asking before paddling out. One of my best memories was of a night camping out in Northern California when me and my friend tried to surf under the stars and moon, we were rather unsuccessful but there were moments the water was so still you could see the stars above reflecting perfectly twinkling above and off the water. It truly was enchanting to me and my friend Shanelle. As we sat just purely observing what was, I couldn’t help but be overcome by feelings of selfless joy and wholeness it was like I could totally sense the unknown and unspeakable and was almost overwhelmed by feelings of more implicit levels of reality and I remember thinking the universe or multiverse whatever it is must be a cosmic joke for something to be as perfect as those instances were. Im oh so grateful for these kinda memories I just wish it was easier to explain and stay in that optimally clear timeless and aesthetic voyager like consciousness all the time not just when Im way out in wilderness. This idea is meaningful to me for I’ve had this weird enchantment towards the sea and force of nature since I was young that only seems to expand the more I grow and learn. Every time Im in the ocean its like I have cosmic consciousness it truly feels like planetary magic to me. These absolutely enlightening moments I’ve experienced out in the natural world not only are the best of my young life but they also left me with a tremendous passion to really push the environmental activist envelope and do whatever it takes to stop all the biospheric harm and rubbish our collective habits, un-mindful technological use, and industrial growth have caused. This project also has meaning to me for it gives me a chance to give back to all the surfing, wilderness, and aesthetic junkies out there by creating an eco friendly custom surfboard fin designs that people could actually learn to print for themselves. The idea of a fin and the sea overall intrigues my intellect in various different ways, well for one thats basically where planetary creation began for all organisms were all made up of those essential elements so clearly thats why some of us have a great longing to keep returning back to from where we once came. It also intrigues my intellect because throughout history the ocean has had such an archetypal effect in some of the worlds greatest works and thinkers. Everybody from painters to poets “You are not just a drop in the ocean, you are the mighty ocean in the drop”.(www.poets.org/poetsorg”) To historical texts such as the Bhagavad Ghita in which the infinite is basically described as like a unified field or multiverse an abyss or dreaming cosmos or sea of energetic potentiality in which universes are forever bubbling, expanding, unfolding and enfolding out of so various simultaneous realities can evolve allowing for anything and everything to happen. Theres many other greats too inspired by the sea like Shakespeare, Richard Feynman, Aldous Huxley, Herman Melville, James Joyce, and Terence Mckenna who in this example I think uses the ocean as a marvelous metaphor for receiving ideas, “The creative act is a letting down of the net of human imagination into the ocean of chaos on which we are suspended, and the attempt to bring out of it ideas. It is the night sea journey, the lone fisherman on a tropical sea with his nets, and you let these nets down – sometimes, something tears through them that leaves them in shreds and you just row for shore, and put your head under your bed and pray. At other times what slips through are the minutiae, the minnows of this ichthyological metaphor of idea chasing.But, sometimes, you can actually bring home something that is food, food for the human community that we can sustain ourselves on and go forward.”(http://www.vasulka.org/Plan, Plant, Planet). The list could go on endlessly but its clear that the sea effects our collective unconsciousness, perhaps because its so essential to life and evolution or perhaps because it makes us ponder mystery and the subtler levels of reality. Or maybe it just purely reminds us of our universe and deep down thats what we are so perhaps thats why the chaotic sea is such recurring theme in past literature and artwork.
Now the slight problem that arises with my project, is that there really is no market yet for 3d printed surfboard fins, so I don’t really have a large spectrum of figures I can reference from and see who they are in conversation with. Which is fine for on top of learning from the dimensions of an orca fin, I’ve been studying some of my favorite childhood surfers to understand the different specks and styles of fins they most enjoyed, with the aim to create one of my own which is a result from all of there various insights from years of intense surf. The surfers I am looking to for inspiration are Larry Bertlemann who basically was a aesthetic god in the water and was apart of surfs golden years throughout the 60s and Kelly Slater who’s like a modern Jedi practically. Ive read basically any material those two have written (Pipe Dreams, Kelly Slater, 03) and they have influenced my imagination greatly just by understanding how they feel in the sea, there both such sensitive,attentive, and sharp reactive people so they make me want to create a fin with just enough flex so the rider has to stay low and there center of gravity is low so than they can really feel the fin flex and give the water attention as you turn. The more I study and discover the more I’m beginning to feel confident that I’m designing a novel fin technology and developing my own style along the way.
http://www.aclibrary.org
http://www.vasulka.org/Plan, Plant, Planet
(Pipe Dreams, Kelly Slater, 2003)