The International Surfing Museum, Huntington Beach, California. August 1st thru Jan 31st, 2004.With special screening of Brian Taylors State of S and Ecoes at 5 pm Aug 1.New footage of George matt surfing,Tom Curren riding Paddle fins and more.Vintage Greenough collections offerd by friends and followers alike,its too easy!
Will Paul Gross be contributing his original work as well as the wilderness group? thanks gary.
Gary, Re: “George Greenough, Beyond Surfing”, contact Mr. Barry Haun, International Surfing Museum exhibit coordinator at: or call ISM: 1-714-960-3483 The promotional info I saw (months ago) included Paul Gross, among many other contributors from around the world.
Gary, These are a few of the contributors who were listed several months ago. By the present time, Im sure there are many others: Joseph Alphabet Richard Buehler Charles Coffee LeRoy Grannis Paul Gross Greg Huglin Drew Kampion Dale Solomonson C.R. Steyck Surfer Magazine Surfing Magazine The Surfers Journal Harold Ward We-Walk.com George Greenough
I noticied that there was a George Greenough exibit in Hunington Beach and will the Dale Sollomison matts be on display. M.B.
Mark- Yes, I built a (current version) Neu surf mat for display, and also did a life-size graphite and charchol portrait of George Greenough, working from source material generously provided by New York photographer, Michael Halsband (www.michaelhalsband.com/home.htm). Both surf mat and artwork may be offered for sale.
You said it big. A head trip to compare his originals with the Bob Duncan Wilderness Surfboards Ddesigns. They are from two different planes of consciousness for a good reason: Bob originals (fins - boards)have the oldest pure Greenough Ranch experience flowing through them. From then until now. Bob is so way the out there he is off all the radar beams. Wrap your brains around his space ships and say “WildernessSurfboards” . Our Mother Ocean and Stanley Plesuknas too. Remember to Refrain from gross inhibition at the Greenouygh exhibition.
Hey mark I gave Barry bunch of George’s winsurfing gear to display in the show. They left here with a full pickup load of stuff. I think the show will be great with all the guys displaying so much stuff. I can’t wait to see it all in one spot. I hope Bob Ducan and Charlie give Barry the low down on the history of all the stuff. That will really show the shear volume of George’s contributions and offer some context of the gravity of his work. The value of all that stuff to the world at large, is much greater than the sum of its parts, especially if it is seen in the context of the progression of his thoughts. I would say it is about time for this stuff to be viewed by the general public. Thanks to Barry it is possible. Barry’s efforts all come from the love of the sport. My hat is off to him. Thanks Barry!
Hi Stan, I am thinking of going to the Greenough exibt on sat. the 10th. I will call you to taik about the foil on my rush foil board. M.B.
So how was the opening? What`d it all look like? Thanx in advance.
I made the mistake of going yesterday. I was arriving in HB at about the time the Surf Contest was ending. Lots of people and cars. It took 30+minutes to find a place to park. The Greenough exhibit was great. You can actually get your hands on a couple of the spoons as well as some of the windsurfering boards. Some of the water camera housings are on display. Some fins and surfmats also. There are a couple of Wilderness boards there. While all the stuff is great to look at, it seemed a bit disjointed. I was not sure of the chronology of all the gear or how the Wilderness boards fit in. I think there should be a tutorial. Maybe like some museums where you put on headphones to orient you to what you are viewing. They said they will be adding to the show later. I hope this post and others could be passed along to those in charge as constructive critisisim resulting in an even better display. Roger
First, I’d like to hopefully clear up any controversy regarding the inclusion of the Wilderness surfboards in the exhibit. The older models are infact ones shaped by George himself (yes, Greenough wasn’t just a spoon fanatic - although it was his preferred mode of transportation) and apparently they worked magically according to those who rode them. The new model is one of Bob Duncan’s, shaped directly off of George’s templates (which were given to him with George’s blessings) and are the only way to still get a Greenough design outside of traveling to Australia to either get George to tell you, “you should learn to shape it yourself” or by ordering one from Michael Cundith. Bob has not been one to sound his own horn, mainly in reverence to keeping the central coast area off the radar map as much as possible, while simultaneously keeping the legacy of Greenough designs alive. I hope this is explanation enough. Secondly, my apologies to everyone for not having everything up in time for the opening. Various items are still being sent to me. It can best be viewed as a learning experience, one that should be taken in over time as it grows and fleshes out (and at $2 per admission, it’s not going to break anyone’s budget and no, I don’t get a cent from any of this. It has infact cost me a small fortune to produce). As George has said, “you’ll probably still be fine tuning it right up to the end”. Very much his philosophy on life. He’s sent some frame captures from"Dolphin Glide" and there will be more forthcoming as he gets a cleaner copy of the film to work from. Also, there will be prints in signed and unsigned formats available for purchase very soon. In other words, this project has George’s full support. I had hoped to have explanations of everything up already, but since I was essentially in charge of every aspect from the researching, contacting, gathering, designing, promotional material, photo scanning, text input, displays, installation, movie screening and press contacts, there was only so much I could get done (a big kudos to Patrick for his help), I felt it was more important to have as much on display for viewing and will start applying the text as soon as this week. This should be a little easier since my regular job decided to let me go since they felt I was more devoted to this project than I was to them (they were correct in this assessment although I tried to never let it detract me from my day to day commitments). I had to be as selective as possible when deciding what to include due to the museum’s limited space. Decisions had to be made as to what was to be shown now and what would come later. Also, I felt some items were too personal and not of a relevant nature to presenting George as a complete portrait. The exhibit should definately be traveling elsewhere depending on the interest it generates. My thanks to Stan Pleskunas who was extremely generous in providing more items than I currently have room for but hope to display at some point. Other pieces like the 1st place soapbox derby trophy from 1952 demonstrate that George had an interest in speed even at the age of 11 and his 9th grade report card showing him failing most of his classes is of interest in that, although possessing a brilliant mind capable of non-linear thought, his disinterest in non-applicable studies that don’t pertain to his areas of interest were of no concern to him. Charlie Coffee has also been extremely instrumental and helpful in providing detailed written explanations for all the displays, the remainder of which will be fleshed out by George (there may even be a walk through video of a reluctant Charlie on camera doing a “Huell Houser” type of over-view). I’ve already added some more photos with accompanying text by Greg MacGillivray, Ian Cairns, and Bob McTavish and will soon include a photograph by Michael Halsband, a drawing and surfmat from Dale Solomonson and George is sending one of his hand-made digerie doos. I have photos and text from the Witzigs, Nat Young, Skip Frey, Michael Cundith, Denny Aaberg, Renny Yater, John Milius, PT, and Tom Morey still to add as well. Please be patient and keep the comments coming, you as the audience will have an influence in the direction the exhibit will be taking. Also, thank you to Drew Kampion for the intro on the exhibit brochure, Pez for the exhibit intro, and Toes on the Nose for their financial support (that saved me from getting even more into debt) and to the many contributors who graciously let me into their homes and archives and provided important material that helped in rounding out this exhibit. The art show alone is worth the price of admission and more artists will soon be included. Check out Brian Taylor’s “State of S” for up to date footage on George and great background info. Anyone with an interest in contributing in any form is certainly welcome to contact me. Sincerely, Barry K Haun exhibit curator
Barry, I appreciate your comments and your passion and committment to this project. I will be back at least once and look forward to additions. Roger