Surf Artist Matt Beard

Surf artist brings his magic to SD

By Ken Lewis 3:58 p.m. 

Oct. 23, 2014

Nor-Cal artist, Matt Beard. — Ken Lewis

Surf art is something I truly love in all its different applications. From the hyper-realistic imagery of Phil Roberts to the cartoon worlds created by Bob Penuelas and Drew Brophy, it all resonates with me due to my love of the ocean and the seascapes that surround it. That being said, not many can do it any better than NorCal artist, Matt Beard.

I met Beard at the end of a steep La Jolla alley on a cloudy afternoon. I have gone down that alley hundreds of times over the decades to get to a favorite surf spot of mine so it was nice sorting through some of the old memories. As I approached, he looked up from his work, from under a baseball cap and through a bushy black beard, he gave me a genuine smile and greeted me like we were old friends. As we talked about the waves, his upbringing in Long Beach and his home in Humboldt County, I was stoked to see that good things do indeed happen to good people. But good people still have to work hard, and that was exactly what Beard was in San Diego to do. Each day he painted two 20-by-20-inch canvases; one in the morning and one before sunset, only breaking occasionally for burritos, beer and surfing.

This past week, Beard (yes that’s actually his last name) made a special trip to document 10 different ocean views from the La Jolla area. What made his trip down to San Diego unique is that most of the paintings were bought sight unseen, and each day he didn’t know where his host would be taking him or what he was going to paint. I asked Beard if that made him a bit nervous to which he replied, “No, but PMK knows the area really well, so I have complete faith in him.”

That “PMK” would be Beard’s good friend and San Diego native Pierce Michael Kavanagh, who produced the 2014 surf documentary “What the Sea Gives Me.” After a conversation with Beard about his upcoming trip to paint La Jolla’s best surf spots, Kavanagh offered to help him sell a few of the paintings. He put out the call through his extensive social media networks and the response was immediate. Kavanagh had half the paintings sold before the first post was even on his homepage. His friends and acquaintances didn’t even care what the paintings were going to be, because they too had faith that Kavanagh would pick the perfect locations in his hometown.

From the stunning cliffs of Black’s Beach to the rocky shores of Windansea, Beard has captured the feel and soul of the little beach community in only the way he can.
If you’d like to see Beard’s work firsthand and meet the artist, he will be at Windansea Beach from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. To learn more about the artist go to mattbeardart.com.


As a lifelong San Diegan, Ken Lewis has surfing and ocean life in his DNA. A 30-year surfer himself, Lewis has worked in the surf and skate industry for most of his career. Send him your thoughts about the surfing world to kenlewis760@gmail.com or follow him on Instagram @hanger18.

San Diego Surf Culture Makes Comic Waves

By Ken Lewis 7 p.m.July 21, 2014

original link is here:  http://www.discoversd.com/news/2014/jul/21/comic-con-surfing-wilber-kookmeyer/

Wilbur Kookmeyer cartoon by creator Bob Penuelas. — Courtesy Photo

Comic-Con week is here! Soon you will be spending countless hours wandering the convention center floor and will be bumping into your tubby neighbor dressed as Han Solo, or your buttoned-up receptionist walking around half-naked and painted blue like she’s in the X-Men. Yep, this week rules.
So how does the surf guy have anything to write about this week that doesn’t involve tubes, bros or sunshine? While I admit I don’t know what Mindcraft is or what a 20-sided die can do, I do know that surfing and comics are not as far apart as you might think.
Surfing and art are in the same grouping and one of the most famous surfer artists that comes to mind is the legendary Rick Griffin. Griffin garnered acclaim in the ’60s and ’70s for his “Murphy” comic, that ran in Surfer magazine and later gained mainstream popularity with his concert posters of rock ‘n’ roll greats Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. Decades after his death, Griffin’s art still can be found on t-shirts, posters and movie covers, and chances are Griffin’s influence can be found somewhere on the tradeshow floor at Comic-Con in 2014.

Local artist Bob Penuelas created Wilbur Kookmeyer. — Courtesy Photo

Another great surf artist is local Bob Penuelas. Penuelas is a well-known airbrush artist who has been coloring surfboards in San Diego for 35 years. At some point in the mid-’80s, Bob developed a character that became the wildly popular surf cartoon strip, Wilbur Kookmeyer, which was also featured in Surfer magazine. In the comic, Wilbur was like many young surf grommets: mouthy, dumb and full of himself. The gangly Wilbur always found himself in bad situations because of his attributes, but his exploits kept readers coming back each month to see what trouble he was going to get into next.

Many of the comics were great social commentary on how the beach was changing from a sleepy town to something bigger and with less soul. It was very much what he was seeing right in front of his eyes, in Pacific Beach at the time. Eventually the comic ended but Wilbur is alive and well and can still be found on Facebook at facebook.com/pages/Wilbur-Kookmeyer/110447028469
I could go on a bit about that obvious choice of the Silver Surfer and how he is drawn as both a goofy-footer and as a regular-footer. That may not mean much to you, but to a surfer, it is a glaring mistake. But he is an alien, so I wont complain much because we too have an alien in surfing; we call him Kelly Slater.

So there you go Comic-Con homies. We’re practically the same people! How about we make a deal, you let me roam around your convention in my flip flops and buy me a corndog and I’ll take you surfing and buy you a fish taco. Deal?

To see more from Bob Penuelas check out his website, wilbur-kookmeyer.com

The Lost Slides

In the late summer of 1992 my dad, Hal Lewis was in his last days with his battle with cancer eventually passing away on Aug 11. The lymphoma caused by long undiagnosed Melanoma had destroyed his once spartan physique and took him at the young age of 62. 

Before he passed he got to say his apologies, his goodbyes and tell countless stories about his lifes adventures and decades of spearfishing and body surfing in La Jolla from 1950-1990.

Pops partying in the Cove

After his death, I didn't keep very many things. The other family members sold the stuff that one collects over a lifetime and the haggling for big appliances and his car wasn't what I wanted to be involved in. All I wanted was what he and I spoke of before his passing. His wooden spear-gun and an old box of slides that were in his closet.

My dad with his world record Totuava

The teak wood gun was made by Riffe way before he had a factory. I remember going up there with my dad in early 1984-85 to pick it up from Riffes garage in Laguna Beach. It still hangs on the wall in my house by a picture of my old man.

The box of slides was more of a surprise. I had never seen them before. Ever. My dad had moved to Belize in 1980 after divorcing my mom and these must have made the journey with him.

Once in my possession, I opened the old weatherproof box and started to go through the slides. I thought they would be of old family events or your everyday run-of-the-mill pics of days spent at the zoo or park. What they were was a time capsule of La Jolla Cove circa 1964-1965. The majority documented body-surfing at Boomer Beach just around the corner from the Cove. 

The Box of slides

There were pics of my dad body surfing along with many others who names did not ring a bell. My mom said that Bud Miller was the one who took the photos but didn't remember when or where my dad may have come into possession of the slides. There are only a handful of the old LJ Cove crew around but im sure they can shed some light on this mystery.

One of the unseen slides

These have been in my possession now for 22 years and I have never showed anyone these images till last week when my friend PMK asked to see them. I hope people smile like I did when I first saw these. He will be sharing these this weekend at his new movie premiere "What the Sea Gives Me"

Lifeguard memorial at Boomers

Support your local surf shop

Your local surf shop is something to behold. These local bastions of knowledge and vibes are among surfings most important necessities and I’m going to tell you why.

The basics. A person has to get the staples eventually.  You have to buy your first Surfboard, wetsuit, trunks and leash somewhere. You can buy stuff all day long on the web but you don’t want to wait a few days for wax when the surf is good, do you? Go in and take a look around. If the shop is worth is salt, there will be someone behind the counter from the area who has spent years surfing the local beaches and reefs. They will know what the tide is like and what spots will be good for that days swell. The owner of the store will most likely be there because they never leave. They work seven days a week and live and die by the slim profit margins on the goods they sell. They usually are a little grumpy at first but they will warm up eventually. Here’s a list of some things you may find.

Reality check. They will point you in the right direction for the equipment you need, not what you want. The employees will know about the history of the sport and can tell you who is doing well on the ASP tour. They can tell you what the pros are riding and can tell you why you shouldn’t be riding what the pros ride, because despite what you think, you don’t surf like Slater.

Talking story. Reading something in an Internet chat room is not the same as hearing a surf story from a guy who just lived it. While the face of surf retailing has cleaned up and focused more on profit margins than hanging out, everyone has a few minutes to chop it up and talk about that mornings session or share a great tale from some recent travels. It’s how we used to learn before the Internet stole our social skills.

Making friends and extended family. Many of us started surfing because our families were screwed up or we didn’t like a coach telling us what to do. It’s a very personal and individual activity and at one time it was even considered anti-social. The surf shop is where you can find like-minded people who see the world through the same set of filters. The best friendships of my life came about because of surf and skate shops. Beware though, The BS detector is very finely tuned and the shop owners can smell a fraud a mile away. Be yourself and be real, it will serve you much better in the long run.

Giving back. The local shop is the one who will organize a beach clean up, sponsor your son or daughter and will enhance your community by being active and supportive to your schools and events. Lord knows the people who own shops do it for the love, not the money so remember that when you are grinding them for an extra discount. You don’t ask for a bro-deal at the super market so don’t ask at the surf shop.

So go forth and seek out your new shop. Find a good one and tuck in for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

You can read my stories over at www.discoversd.com

Joel Tudor and The Flying Takayama - 1990

It was early Summer in 1990 when I called Joel Tudor from the surf shop. I was working in Pacific Beach and told him the pier was looking really fun and he should come down for a surf. He was only 15 and didn't have a ride and asked if I could pick him up from his house in University City. No worries. I got a shop grom to cover the store and I was out the door. I was on my way when I realized I only had one soft rack for my shitty 1979 Celica sedan. As I got to his house we organized or gear and I started to put his almost new Takayama nose rider onto the one old rack atop the car. I get it strapped in and I tell him to hop in. He looks at me and asks where the other rack is? I told him not to be a pussy and his board was going to be "safe and sound". As we were blasting down the I-52 west bound, his board began to move a bit. By "move a bit" I mean it was bouncing around and starting to levitate on occasion. Just then I hear a "Hey dude, I think we should slow down, it looks sketchy." I looked at him with disdain and pushed the pedal a bit harder.  Just I was saying how he should chill, I heard "THERE IT GOES!!"

Joel Tudor Photo:Tom Keck

I had a sweet rusted out sunroof on the shitty Celica and through a hole in the seal, I could see it go from dark to light. In the rear-view I see his prized hand shaped board heading skyward from the roof-rack. I automatically hit the breaks and began to skid going 65mph. We ended up doing a full 180 on the freeway and were now facing traffic! A few "Oh shits" were muttered and I hastily pulled the car onto the shoulder. We looked at each other and began to laugh hysterically. Not because it was funny but because we were happy to be alive. Once we calmed down we looked for his board, we saw that it was lying in the number two lane of the 52. I dashed out between passing cars and grabbed the board returning it to the safety of the freeway Ice plant. I assured Joel that the board looked fine! There was just a little rail shatter...oh, and maybe the fin looks a little cracked too. Is that a buckle? Oh shit...

With the rack busted and gone, I stuff the board into my car and we start heading for Crystal Pier once again. I didnt care that three feet of surfboard were sticking out my passenger side window,we were still going surfing. We get to the pier and surf for a few hours. I cant remember if it was fun, I can only remember his board flying in the air. We finish up, bullshit for a bit in the shop and then load up to take him home. I wanted to grab some racks from the shop but we were sold out and only had hard racks. Fuck. On the drive back to his house I was thinking of how pissed his dad was going to be. I was hoping his mom was going to be there. She was always the coolest but his dad big Joe was a bit intimidating to say the least. I was sure to catch a beat down.

Phil Edwards, Greg Noll, Takayama, Joel and Miki Dora

Just as I was contemplating my fate, I hear the sound of a siren. To make my day that much shittier, I'm  getting pulled over for having that extra three feet of board sticking out of my car. Apparently, if you don't have a red warning flag attached its quite frowned upon. I plead my case and explained how we almost died and I spun out and how I'm a good kid... the cop wasn't buying it. My failure was complete.

I sign the ticket and finish the drive of shame to Joels house. I almost contemplated dropping him off down the block so I could escape without injury.  Anyway, we get there and Joel got out and explained the situation to his mom and she spoke to a visibly upset Joe. I'm sure he would have killed me if not for Denise.  Since I almost killed Joel, ruined his board and was a terrible driver who received a moving violation, I figured I shouldn't pick up Joel anymore. Even if I wanted to, Im pretty sure Joe would have forbid Joel from riding in my whip ever again. After that day I would only see Joel when he came down with someone else or if I was road tripping up to Cardiff.

Joel now is a father of two, a world champion surfer and Jui jitsu world champ as well.