Mele paints outside. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Mele in the Swami's in Cocodot. Photo by Roisin. |
Mele in the Swami's in Cocodot. Photo by Roisin. |
Mele Saili. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Mele's art. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Mele painting. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
A look at Julie Goldstein's work displayed at CSU San Marcos. |
Two of Julie Goldstein's prints. Photos courtesy of the artist. |
Current exhibition. |
Most people's memories flash back in the brilliant realism of photographs, but if you’re illustrator Natalia Resmini, the figures in your dreams dance in watery pigments and brushstroke lines.
]]>Most people's memories flash back in the brilliant realism of photographs, but if you’re illustrator Natalia Resmini, the figures in your dreams dance in watery pigments and brushstroke lines.
The Italian Seeababe shared with us her sketchbook of drawings compiled on a visit to Sayulita, Mexico earlier this year for the MexiLogFest. Melding the photographs by fellow traveler Luki O’Keefe and local shooter Ed Fladung, Natalia’s paintings add an emotional soundtrack layer to the freeze-framed instants.
“My idea was to collect the best pictures of the holiday, and write a story using the drawings as a “Fil Rouge” (common thread). The relationship between the drawings and the picture comes from the memory and the shape. I would call it “a sensation game.
I would like to thank Ed Fladung, Luki O’Keefe, Alessandro Ponzanelli and the Seeababes for their collaboration and unique view."
You’ll never look at vacation slideshows the same way again.
From left, Karina Rozunko, Lola Mignot and Natalia Resmini at CasaLove. Illustrations by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
From left, Hallie Rohr, Lola Mignot and Justine Mauvin. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Unofficial mayor of Sayulita, Israel Preciado. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Ed Fladung. |
Luki O'Keefe hands the camera to a friend. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. |
Lola Mignot paddles out. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Nathan Strom. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Sebastiano Concas hangs ten. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Alessandro Ponzanelli. |
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Seeababes sisterhood. Illustration by Natalia Resmini. Photo by Luki O'Keefe. |
Drinking memories. Photo of artist, Natalia Resmini by Ed Fladung. |
MORE ART
]]>Juggling art studio work, surfing play time and raising a toddler, Julie Goldstein is a brilliant multi-tasker. Read on to find out what drives Julie's artistic storytelling.
]]>Artist Julie Goldstein carving wood in her studio. Photo by Sarah Lee. |
Julie Goldstein's art prints made from woodblock carvings. "Miss Clara T. Hurst AKA T-BONES with babies" and "Miss Florence B. West AKA FLO with babies." |
A woodcut print from the "Mother and Children on Dirbikes" series by artist Julie Goldstein. Photo courtesy of Julie Goldstein. |
Inside Julie Goldstein's art studio. Photo by Takashi Tomito. |
SWM backpack and t-shirt by Julie Goldstein. Photo by Dane Peterson. |
Julie Goldstein trying on a sample of the Axxe wetsuit collaboration. Photo by Sarah Lee. |
One of Julie Goldstein's artworks that employs a woodcut print and fabric. Photo courtesy of Julie Goldstein. |
Julie Goldstein and her son Frankie. Photo by Mark Tesi. |
Julie Goldstein in her art studio. Photo by Takashi Tomito. |
"Under the Full Moon Winter" artwork by Julie Goldstein. |
A woodcut print by Julie Goldstein. Photo courtesy of Julie Goldstein. |
Joni Sternbach’s photographs use a large-format camera and the nineteenth-century wet-plate collodion process in which she hand-pours the plates and develops on location. Read on for how Sternbach met up with Seeababe Karina Rozunko and why she loves to shoot real photographs.
]]>Karina Rozunko wearing the Tofino in Blue Tide and Charlotte Shanahan wearing the Zuma in Black Stripe. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
At the tap of our camera phones, pixels light up to become images in our hands pretty much anywhere we are and any time we want. It’s easy to forget that taking photos used to be a lot of work. The click of a real button, the sound of film winding, the thoughtful marinating in a bath of chemicals and then hanging to dry. Actually taking the photo? That’s the easiest part says Brooklyn, New York-based photographer Joni Sternbach.
“It's the preparation that takes the most time and scrutiny,” she explained. “Making sure my chemistry is ‘groomed,’ mixed well, aged to perfection (if only it were like a fine wine) all contribute to giving the end result its character.”
Joni Sternbach’s photographs using a large-format camera and the nineteenth-century wet-plate collodion process in which she hand-pours the plates and develops on location are immediately captivating. Her otherworldly tintype portraits of surfers on the shore have been compiled into the art books: “Surfland” published in 2009 and most recently “Surf Site Tintype” published this year.
On one of Sternbach’s trips to the West coast, she met Seeababe Karina Rozunko and her friend Charlotte Shanahan on the beach in Ulvila (wearing Seea surf suits, naturally). The photos that resulted from their encounter took our breath away in the textures of the print, and how authentically vintage they appeared.
We caught up with Sternbach to find out more about why she loves to shoot real photographs and how surfers came to be her subjects.
From left, Charlotte Shanahan and Karina Rozunko taken in Ulvila. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
I met Karina through the surfer, Jen Smith. I was headed south to San Diego and San-O was on the way, so we decided to meet there. I made just a couple of plates when 'the ranger' showed up. He took one look at our dark tent and decided we were a big production and that we needed a permit.
I explained that I am an artist, not a commercial venture and that I wasn't hired by a company to make these pictures, but that I do it all on my own. That did not faze him in the least. He watched over us like we were teenagers about to strip naked-and skinny dip illegally in public. It was rather ridiculous. He allowed me to take one film shot… and to be honest, if he hadn't hassled the shit out of us, I might never have made that picture!
We found another spot to shoot at that was quite beautiful, filled with the emptiness of western imagination.
Karina Rozunko wears the Tofino. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
Tell us about your career as a photographer. When did you start shooting and discover that you liked photography as your medium of choice?
I first started taking pictures in college. It was a required course at the art school I attended. My first successful picture was a still life of a cheesecake with a slice cut out of it. Not that I'd advise anyone out there to base a career choice on a single image like that, but something about how ordinary the picture was, combined with the black and white chemistry and magic of watching the image develop in the darkroom struck me and stuck with me.
I switched my major from fine arts and made a choice to be a photographer. I studied with people who mostly shot on the street and learned to tell a very personal story by pointing the lens outward. My first body of work was (made over a period of time) on the subway. Back in the ‘70’s, NYC was a tough place and photographing in the subways was illegal. I used a quiet range-finder camera that I wore around my neck under my coat with a preset focus. I guesstimated the image frame based on the wide-angle lens I was using. Raising the camera to my eye drew a very different response from subjects, so I tried to minimize that action.
Karina Rozunko wears the Tofino. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
I learned the wet-collodion process, which includes the tintype from John Coffer, one midday summer in 1999. John is an unconventional man who lives a 19th century life on a farm in upstate NY. He teaches workshops on the process and hosts a big jamboree on his farm every summer for all the crazy wet-platers out there in the world.
I started shooting near the ocean, where I had been making these close-up, abstract images of the ocean surface, called 'Ocean Details.' Making pictures by the shoreline was a practice I was becoming committed to. The wet-plate medium has very specific sensitivities and insensitivities that make photographing certain subjects challenging, however it reads textures really well, which meant there had to be a strong subject amidst the landscape. I found remnants of civilization and life along the shoreline, so I aptly named my first series "Abandoned." They were haunting ambrotype and tintype images that felt like they could have been taken a hundred years ago.
Ocean details by Joni Sternbach. |
Ocean details by Joni Sternbach. |
The medium is wet which makes it very specific; it's super slow, so all my exposures are relatively long. Long exposures mean capturing time in motion and that's yields unpredictable and exciting results. It's also a hand poured process so the hand is involved in a way it's not in standard photography. The way I pour a plate, the way I develop my plate, fix, rinse and wash it, all contribute to the end result.
I like to say … that surfers came to me. Initially, I considered them interlopers into my pristine, abstract landscape. Then I began to see that this was a place we were all interacting in, that it was a shared environment and that it was important for me to pay attention to that. These people (surfers) inhabited the landscape; maybe they were there for a reason! To me, surfers are primal; they are so much a part of the ocean landscape where I was shooting at Ditch Plains, that I am surprised I avoided them so long. But maybe, more importantly is that what I am trying to do—by photographing surfers fits so well with what they are trying to do—just by being surfers.
As the series developed, I began to understand this subculture of surfers as people, who on a regular basis, seek a connection with nature and unabashedly engage in their quest for joy. That in itself was exciting and intriguing. Making the portraits of surfers seemed to capture something that was both primitive and contemporary. Their surfboards appeared like symbols or totems, revealing individual character and the wet suits and clothing were also symbolic, revealing time, place and fashion. Because the photographs are positives, the text reads backwards. This affects the way you understand the picture—glaring logos appear more like design or hieroglyphics and brand names are no longer prominent.
Karina Rozunko wearing the Tofino in Blue Tide. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
I was pushed into my first wave in Australia by Lauren Hill. She made it a little bit of a mission to get me on a board and I am so glad she did. I didn't stand during that brief ride but I totally got the feeling of what it's like to ride with the ocean. There's nothing like it.
I love photographing and working with women. I'm comfortable around them, maybe that shows. I couldn't say what exactly is unique in my photographs of them, but another photographer/surfer once told me early into the series that she felt my pictures empowered women. That was nice to hear!
Thank you Joni, you are an inspiration!
Check out Joni Sternbach’s website for more information about her, and where to find her books! For all the Californians, she will be signing her latest book, "Surf Site Tintype" on May 2nd at Paris Photo LA at the D.A.P. booth.
Charlotte and Karina in full color. Photo by Joni Sternbach. |
Artist Letty Nowak and friends enjoy a beautiful day in Key West, Florida. |
Artist Letty Nowak and friends enjoy a beautiful day in Key West, Florida. |
“You never know who you’re going to meet,” says artist Letty Nowak of why she loves her home on the tiny island of Key West, Florida. From bumping into Florida celebrity Jimmy Buffett to being introduced to her art dealer in New York, Letty says the tight-knit community just shy of five miles long is a melting pot for international movers and shakers that seasonally return to the island’s crystal blue waters to relax.
The scene on the main thoroughfare, Duval Street in Key West. |
On the street by Fury Surf Shack. |
The colorful characters of Key West were an early inspiration in Letty’s painting career. Straight out of art school in Michigan and moving to Key West, she embarked on a series of paintings over the course of five years titled “Faces of Key West” that encompassed 100 different portraits of local people. Her next series in progress, “Faces of Surfing” adapts that same concept to surf community personalities. “My Dad owned surf shops in Michigan [where I grew up] so it is pretty special for me to bring that industry into my painting career,” says Letty.
Left, portrait of surfers Debbie Beacham and right, Maya Gabeira painted by Letty Nowak. |
Letty with her paintings. |
On top of her painting career and managing her own art gallery, The Lemonade Stand Gallery in Key West, Letty also co-owns three Fury Surf Shack stores and the recently opened lifestyle boutique called Key West Sunshine Club (where Seea is sold).
Seea caught up with Letty between her nonstop travel schedule (she has an art studio in La Jolla, Calif. and is frequently traveling for fun) to get the inside scoop on the hidden gems of Key West, her journey as an artist and bringing California designers to the Florida Keys.
One of the Fury Surf Shacks that Letty co-owns. |
Key West is its own little place. It’s a three and a half hour drive to Miami and it’s 90 miles from Cuba. People from all over the world — artists, business people, people who spend time between Key West and NYC — everyone lives in the same neighborhood together.
The Fury Surf Shacks are three surf shops I co-own with Marius Venter in Key West, Florida. They have been open now for seven years. We stock the big core surf brands.
Key West Sunshine Club is a brand new boutique we just opened that is surf-inspired, but really select in brands that I have discovered through living in California. I had to introduce them to the Key West/South Florida market. I wanted them set apart and in their own space.
View from the outside of the Key West Sunshine Club at night. |
Inside the Key West Sunshine Club. |
North of Miami, it is definitely prominent. I recently surfed with Frieda Zamba who was an amazing athlete. South of Miami and into the Keys, it is more of a SUP scene. It’s surrounded by reef, so no waves. When the water’s really still, its Caribbean blue. There’s lots of manatee, dolphin and wildlife.
I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by waves in San Diego when I'm there so you can normally find me anywhere between Grandview and Mission Beach.
I have recently started having great conversations with Coco Tihanyi who owns Surf Diva in La Jolla with her sister Izzy. It's been great to compare notes and ideas with her. Florencia Gomez of Greenpacha and I have tossed a lot of great ideas around about art, business, and the surf industry. Lisa Anderson just said yes to being painted. Lyndie Irons of Acacia has also been a subject of mine and an inspiration.
First, to have fun. I also had to learn to share the reigns, not only with my business partner, Marius who is male, but also with my staff. I was open to try their new ideas and we were able to create successful shops. I also had to learn to keep a good balance of merchandise with everything from quantity, sizing, color palettes, and when to push the limits of style.
Marius’s parents had surf shops while he was growing up in South Africa and my parents had surf shops in Michigan so it is pretty cool to share some of our own now.
I have been able to make the interior of our spaces almost totally custom with a look that is held over into each of our shops. Custom racks, tables, and counters are built along with found re-finished furniture. Most of the little bowls and baskets, which hold our jewelry and accessories, have been brought from my travels or made from my artist friends. It is the personal touches that I think customers appreciate in our type of stores. I learned this from my Dad and wish I could do it as good as he could. We have really gone all out in our shops, as they are an extension of a lifestyle we love.
Letty in the original Malibu! |
Letty painting in the studio. |
I started painting because I knew I had a strong attachment to my art and my grandfather told me to go for it as I had nothing to lose coming out of university. It was great advice.
We had to choose one style/subject for an entire semester at university. At the time, portraits seemed like the hardest thing to learn so I chose them to have help from my professor who, funnily enough, ended up being an abstract painter. I found my voice for portraits after the first one I finished. I have never looked back since that class. There was something about the challenge of taking something so personal and recognizable and then making have it's own life as a 2D painted object.
It started in Tavarua, Fiji. My boyfriend took me there for my 30th birthday. There, I met Richard Woolcott [co-founder of Volcom] photographed him, painted him, and showed his painting in New York City, which was secretly the start to the Faces of Surfing. On my next trip to Tavarua, I met Bob Hurley [founder of Hurley]. I was telling him about my work and he offered me an exhibit at Hurley's headquarters. The community support has been really unbelievable.
There is not a lot of expression I am looking for — just pretty frontal and honest. If I do it right, their personality will come through as I paint them through my marks and colors, leaving lines soft or hard, with the light that is reflecting on them.
The Florida Keys are an easy place to try kite boarding. |
Or just enjoy the waterfront view. |
[Outdoors there’s] diving, snorkeling, SUP, fishing. Take kiteboarding lessons. You’re just learning to kite board in waist deep water. Put on a mask and snorkel and check out the fish in Fort Zachary Taylor State Park forest.
Go to some art openings. The studios of Key West bring resident musicians and have gallery openings. It can really change your experience in Key West.
Get coffee at the Cuban Coffee Queen, which I painted a big mural on. For breakfast/lunch/dinner, Blue Heaven. You sit outside amongst roosters just running around. There’s a band and they have their own bakery on premises. It’s in the same area as Sunshine Club, one of the last old parts of Key West with families that have lived there forever. Seven Fish is a little restaurant only open for dinner that’s hard to get into because its super small but its in an old town neighborhood. Finding all the hidden gems off the beaten path is one of the cool parts about Key West.
Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. |
"ABL," Always Be Learning. That is what I told myself from my first days out of college. Nurture your style, push your limits, and realize the possibilities are endless. Be confident and persistent. Work towards your goal. If you believe in yourself, it will happen.
To read about more inspiring women surf shop owners, check out stories on:
]]>For as long as we have known our dear friend, surfer, fashion illustrator and Seeababe Natalia Resmini, she is always traveling. From her hometown in Italy, to chasing the swells to Morocco, France and Spain, her life is full of adventure hanging out with stylish surfers around the world.
Natalia’s wanderlust lifestyle is even truer now that her newest home—a boat in Sardinia, Italy—is frequently in motion, gliding through water. From her “office” on the boat or wherever she can find a place to paint, she makes illustrations for the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera and Elle Italy. Look out for Natalia in "Peninsula, a film by Onde Nostre" coming out next spring that documents the history of the Italian surf scene shot completely on 35mm, 16mm and super8 film.
It's been a while since we last surfed with Natalia in Italy while filming "Girls, Girls, Girls, a film by Onde Nostre" so we thought it was time to catch up with her again and hear what it’s like to live on a boat.
Natalia's home, "Fiore di Maggio." |
When did you start surfing?
I've start surfing during a trip in Hawaii, around 1998. I was just a "big girl," my parents allowed me to go there and I was super stoked. I remember myself dreaming with this airplane ticket in my hands,"Milano-Honolulu."I just couldn't believe it. I've learned pretty much watching the others and just go. The main ingredient? Determination, on and on. Back to Italy, I've never stopped even if it was not an easy road. The Mediterranean Sea does not have consistent waves. At that time I also started my art studies. I began playing with "the elements," studying shapes on paper and new forms on my board.
Life on the sea. Photo by Filippo Maffei. |
What do you love about living on a boat and that every day is different?
I love so much to wake up in the harbor. I'm such a dreamer and my spirit gets big nourishment every morning. My boyfriend is a sailor, a surfer and a fisherman, he's such a great waterman. Everyday is a small adventure. We live in South Sardinia, and it’s always warm and sunny. The boat is old school, very comfortable, and there is a lot of space for chilling and creating. My main activities are: surfing, painting, swimming, reading, thinking, and fishing. The worst thing that could happen to me would be go back living in a normal house!
Natalia's office in the boat. |
Where are some of the favorite places you have traveled to that are inspiring for your art?
Morocco is one of my fav places—close to Italy, cheap flights. In the few last years I've been there so many times! It has a magic vibe. There is a sort of "light Islamic" culture which is interesting to discover. Essaouira is one of the best cities I've seen in my life. The architecture is very ancient and sophisticated. Brazil is also very inspiring. I loved the perfect mix of relaxed atmosphere, samba and healthy lifestyle. Fruits are so tasty over there! Impossible not to mention Basque country, the European surfing mecca, with so many interesting people to meet.
What do you always pack with you when you travel?
Sunscreen 50+, white papers and watercolors, my "fatima hands" necklace (it brings a good luck while traveling), some book and a black Balenciaga Bag.
Illustration by Natalia Resmini |
Illustration by Natalia Resmini. |
Why is it important to have good surfing girl friends?
Me and my girlfriends we support each other—this is the main thing. We share beauty tips and laugh. They are all very ironic, I admit. When the line-up becomes "pink" its always a great fun. Especially if the crew is wearing Seea! I love Amanda because she spread the Italian glamour in the world. She is always positive and she works like crazy, but never complains. She is not just a surfer sista: she is a strong and determinate businesswoman, always a good example for me.
Elisabetta Del Ballo, Natalia Resmini and Amanda Chinchelli in Italy filming with Onde Nostre. |
Why do you love about being apart of the surfer community and that we are all connected around the world?
Natalia in Morocco. Photo by Mohamed Rob. |
Natalia in the Onde Nostre film, "Girls, Girls, Girls." |
What projects are you working on now?
At the moment I'm painting a lot on t-shirts. My capsule collection is called "fishing for religion." It's handmade in Italy with love! They are all unique pieces: I design the graphics, I use a lot of pastels and sometime I add some golden pigment as well. The result is very different! I've started to sell them in some selected shop. My favorite is Swell Surf Shop and Cafè in Sinnai, (Sardegna Island) they sell a lot of different brands.
Fishing for Religion t-shirt. |
What other advice do you have to share?
My philosophy at the moment is quite simple:
1) Don't compare yourself with the others people go straight for your road.
2) Try to be grateful and smile.
Basking in the sun. |
Thank you Natalia for spreading the Seea love in Europe and your friendship!
See more of Natalia's work on her website, blog and Instagram.
Ode to Seea styles. Illustrations by Natalia Resmini. |
One thing that we love about seeing customers wear Seea is all the different ways that they make the suits their own. We were touched to hear from Santa Cruz photographer Nikki Brooks that she was inspired by the beauty of the suits to create an underwater photo series of Seea Mermaids in the chilly waters of Monterey Bay.
Nikki wanted to create a proper sub-marine presentation for the swimming ladies, so she constructed “portholes” to put them in, which were made from salvaged appliances and nautical memorabilia from Jack O'Neill's “Marie Celine" schooner. Yes, the very same Jack O’Neill that invented the wetsuit!
As a born and raised Santa Cruz native, Nikki has photographed the local surf culture for Surfline.com and traveled to document events like the Vans Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational. We asked her more about her brave photography subjects and what she loves about surfing in Santa Cruz.
How Nikki’s photographs were displayed at the Robert Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz for the "Oceans of Art" exhibit, curated by Shawn "Barney" Barron. |
Nikki's photography display for the group art show at the Robert Blitzer gallery. |
Created by master illustrator Simone Massoni, the Seea Lady exemplifies Simone's comic, cartoon-like style, and his penchant for distressed, colorful prints. Originally a creator of children's books, it's easy to see the magic in Simone's whimsical images and storybook design.
With the manifesto "Original, push the visual", Simone has explored illustration, photography, art, graphic design, and music for a large list of international clients. Intent on "defending and spreading passion" for everything visually stimulating, Simone has created an impressive body of work, including recent projects for Nokia, Guess Kids, & Wired Magazine.
Instrumental in creating a visual voice for our brand identity, we are forever grateful to Simone for bringing the Seea Lady to life, and we look forward to seeing whatever comes next!!
Moral of the story: Don't be afraid to look Simone up, if you every need to "Sketch This Out"!
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