Maker Surfboards Maui: a creative collaboration

While I'm here on Maui I'm getting to know a couple of artists that not only create works of art in the surfboards they make, they're all about relationship and collaboration in how they make the boards and in how they live their lives. 

Meet husband and wife team Joey and Tiana Mattos of Kihei, Hawaii on the island of Maui...owners and artists at Maker Surfboards www.makersurfboards.com, working together to build a foundation of love, respect, and light in every surfboard they make. 

For surfers, boards are not just the piece of foam they ride on the waves, boards become an extension of their own bodies to take them places they've only dreamed of. Joey and Tiana (native to Maui and surfers themselves) spend time with their customers getting to know them and learning about them in order to be able to create the kind of boards that will work best for them out on the waves and will also look and feel good to their customers that they can feel a part of as they surf. It really is about  both function and about style. 

I had the honor of getting to experience part of their creative process as they invited me into their side by side shops to watch them work. 

Joey is a Shaper. This is his side of the shop. He takes the generic foam molds and shapes them, customizing their specifications for each customer (taking into considerations the height and size of the person, what the person wants to be able to do with the board, i.e. if it's a long board or a short board, etc.) 

Tiana is a Glasser. This is her side of the shop. Glassing is the process of applying fiberglass cloth and resin to seal the board with protection for the water. It's also the process of adding color and design to make the board unique to the customers specifications. 

SHAPING

Joey uses a number of tools to sand and shape the chunky foam mold into a streamlined surface. I can tell that Joey's precision with measurements and even the slightest touch of sanding has come from years of experience knowing what it feels like for a body to extend to a board and to aerodynamically ride through and over water together. He's a master sculptor forming and shaping that foam. 

GLASSING

Tiana hand mixes colors from a limited palette available in the industry, which she then adds to the very toxic laminating resin. It's  chemistry and it's a time consuming and painstaking process to correctly match the colors her customers have requested, but she takes pride in getting it right. While she mixes, Joey preps the board with tape and paper as a house painter preps a room. Once the colored resin is ready it is poured and squeegeed over fiberglass cloth that covers the foam board. This process of application is like a dance and has to be completed in time before the resin begins to set up. 

There are many more steps in the process to create a finished board (adding additional design, adding the Maker logo to the board, buffing and polishing, adding the fins and other functional aspects, etc.). Though I haven't seen those finishing detailed steps as of yet, I have gotten to see some of their finished boards...and I must say that they truly are works of art. 

But it's not just how good the board looks or even how good the board performs after it's completed that matters to Joey and Tiana. They put the hard work in to shaping and glassing the boards they create but they also put the hard work in to building relationships with their customers that make a difference. These guys are legit. 

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to be in their creative spaces and to watch their creative process as a team. Joey and Tiana Mattos are surfboard artists. 

Here is an example of a board created by Maker Surfboards 

(taken from photos on their Instagram)

Maker Surfboards

Function and Style

Support Local

Check out their website www.makersurfboards.com and catch them on Instagram @makersurfboards to view boards they've created and to learn more about who they are and what they do as surfboard makers. 

Artists Need Space to Create: My Home Studio and Portable Studio Here on Maui

An Artist needs space to create. It really is a necessity. How big that space is, what that space looks like, and what that space includes in it is as unique as the Artist and the situation and means given. 

Over the 20 years I've been a Full Time Working Artist, the 14 years I've been an Art Minister, and the 7 years I've been a Traveling Art Minister/Missionary, I have occupied and have worked in all kinds of art studio spaces. Whether it's a dining room table, a bedroom floor, a house living room, a city street alley, a concert stage,  a coffee house, a storefront window, a church platform, a grassy park, a convention center, a house patio, a vehicle garage, a back yard, an orphanage kitchen, a carpet warehouse, a community shared studio, or a new construction home studio....they've all been important parts of my creative process and artistic journey. 

I have a home art studio back in Idaho still. And though I've moved to Maui (for at least a year) it is still there for use by Artist friends and waiting for me if/when I return. 

But I'm currently here on Maui...so I need (and have set up) studio space here and now to work in and work with. I wanted to share with you what that studio space looks like so you can see what this looks like for me as I paint and minister here on Maui as a full time working Artist and as a Traveling Art Minister. 

HOME STUDIO ON MAUI

This is my home studio here on Maui. 

It's a much smaller space than my studio back in Idaho (which was specifically built as an art studio with a utility sink and great lighting and outlets and lots of shelves and special flooring and lots of space and is located in the garage)...but though my current studio is much smaller and basically takes up half my bedroom, I make it work and it's such a wonderful thing to be able to create at anytime (I can literally roll out of bed and go to work!) 

How did this studio space come to be?

The previous 2 trips to Maui I brought a large roller suitcase each trip filled with all kinds of art supplies that had been donated (including easels, drop cloths, acrylic paints, water color paints, brushes, paper, pastels chalks, pencils, pens, colored pencils, markers, crayons, clay, office supplies, etc.)  In preparation for my move to Maui I shipped over boxes with my personal tools, drop cloths, easel, and other art supplies, along with a small printer. I also ordered and had shipped to Maui a large roll (25 yards worth) of unstretched primed canvas that I could cut myself for numerous paintings whatever sizes I will need. And when I moved over in September I checked my black roller art bag on the plane, that carried my personal paint brushes (which in comparison they are to me as a chef's personal knife set would be to them). 

This prep ahead of time was a HUGE necessity and a HUGE blessing to do like that because it has saved me heaps of money in the long run and has basically given me a ready made art studio with art ministry supplies on hand to utilize at anytime. 

Once I arrived here on Maui I was able to use donated monies (from generous supporters of my traveling art ministry) to purchase the portable tables and plastic bins to store all the art supplies in, and purchase additional supplies to fill in any missing gaps. 

I'm still working out the kinks in this studio (it takes living and creating in a space for a time to know if you have the right   supplies and have things in the right place for efficiency and ease and flow for creative process). 

It's so nice to to have a home studio and I am so very thankful. 

most recent painting created in studio

malalo iho

(Hawaiian for deeper)

c. 2018 Lisa Marten

18x24 mixed media on unstretched canvas

painted in my home studio here on Maui

This painting is all about the work it takes to explore the depths of who we are. A diver must undergo hours and hours of instruction, training, and practice in order to go to the areas of the ocean where they can find beautiful worlds, hidden treasures, and exciting discoveries. But even with the licensed training and years of experience, probing the depths can be perilous if the diver doesn't stay alert, trust their instruction and their gages, and rely on wisdom. I see this as a great parallel lesson for life. 

PORTABLE STUDIO ON MAUI

This is my portable studio for painting live. That black roller bag I purchased back in 2000 and it has carried countless art supplies for me over the years and has traveled with me all around the world on art ministry travels and has seen so many different places and venues that I've gotten to paint live in. It's a trusted friend and companion and I'm so thankful for it being with me here on Maui. 

Because I have a home studio (set up with it's own supplies) and a portable studio (for painting live at Ke Aha and elsewhere) my black bag is always ready to go. It carries acrylic paints and other mediums (pastels, pencils, pens, charcoals, matte medium), paint brushes and tools, palettes and water containers and rags, drop cloths, a light and extension cord, matte fixative spray, and my easel. The other roller cart I purchased here on Maui at Home Depot and it carries my portable table and my painting board with unstretched canvas attached. Also...bungee cords and binder clips are awesome! 

Having this portable studio ready to go is so helpful in that I don't have to pack up supplies from my home studio every time I need to go paint live. It's already ready to go with me (whether I'm driving myself in Mak my Maui Cruiser or hopping into the back of one of the Ohana's pick up trucks or vans to get a ride). 

I'm still working out the kinks with this studio (it takes time utilizing it's portability to know if you have the right routine and supplies for efficiency and ease with set up and take down  and transport and flow for creative process). 

It's so fun to have a portable studio and I'm so very thankful. 

This is my painting station set up on the stage with the worship band at Ke Aha Vineyard in Kahului, Maui. This photo was taken this past Sunday evening as I painted live.  Being that Ke Aha doesn't own their own building space (they are renting from another church), out of necessity I need to have my art supplies portable (there is no space for storage for my stuff on site). As you can see, it's bare bones supplies but that makes for quick set up and take down. 

most recent painting created live

ho'ola pana'i

(Hawaiian for redeemer or healer)

c. 2018 Lisa Marten

18x24 mixed media on unstretched canvas

painted live at Ke Aha Vineyard church on Maui

This painting is all about restoration from devastation, light from darkness, life from death, beauty from ashes. Our God is the redeemer of the broken and the hurting, the bruised and the abused, the cast our and the oppressed, the misfits and the misunderstood. There is hope. All through the background of this painting is written the Scripture of Isaiah 61:1-3, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."