DAMAGED GOODS ZINE
ALOHA TO ZEN: Interview by Glenn Sakamoto
Fern Levack is an Australian surfer/artist who wrote and illustrated Aloha to Zen – art surf encyclopedia, part spiritual experience. Levack’s whimsical illustrations will draw you into the culture of surfing like no other. This is a must have for any surfer – young or old. We spoke with Fern to learn more. What inspired you to write Aloha to Zen? A lifetime of great coastal adventures with my husband from NSW north and south coast to Bondi Beach. Hawaii North Shore to Southern California, Japan and France. Living in California and being homesick for Australia. I started the book just as we’d moved to Leucadia in North San Diego and was loving the whole relaxed vibe – not to mention my husbands total obsession with California rubbed off on me – but I was missing Australia for a whole lot of reasons, yet at the same time totally enjoying what a vibrant and rich surf culture California is blessed with. I guess the book just came about as somewhere to channel my thoughts and cosmic ponderings. I’m not one for words or photos so a blog wasn’t the answer. I felt I had some pretty insightful and fun thoughts on surf culture others might enjoy. How important is surfing in your life? I love that surfing strengthens a strong connection with nature – a view espoused in Aloha to Zen. It’s all about the journey, arriving at your favorite spot, living simply, a seeking for something new, the great meal that comes after a surf – shave ice in Haleiwa, a mung bean burger in Byron, wet dogs, sneaky stingrays – all these small encounters make a life involved with surfing so special. The pre-surf adventure – the track through the bush to Aussie Pipe, through a field of grazing cows in Bali, down the steep cliff shared with nudists at Blacks, these all add up to an epic way to spend a life – you are not driving in your car to a gym and going inside to run on a treadmill! You are encountering sea eagles and dolphins, understanding currents and wind direction – seeing the sun rise and set, taking a set on the head! Its really fantastic when you think about it! Where did you learn to draw? I didn’t! I had a family that just drew a lot, no one was ‘trained’ but it was always a big part of what we did together – so I never got the feeling you had to be ‘good’ at it. It was just a means of self expression the way some families play music together or surf together. Later on, I did a degree in fashion and textile design and got quite good at ‘80s style elongated women! I was always into comics as a kid – furiously devouring Phantom comics and my all time favorite The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Looking back now, that’s obviously (at the tender age of 7 or 8) where my joy in railing against the establishment and right wing politics may have
first appeared. I also obsessed over books on frogs, horses, birds and insects and dogs, and spent literally hours drawing animals as a kid. At one stage, I drew all over my bedroom wall trying to perfect those bumpy bits in a horses leg – luckily I had a super laid back mum! I think if you love something, you can teach yourself. Why is drawing by hand an important means of expression? Personally I get more joy from products made by hand. Be it a hand shaped surfboard as opposed to a factory made one, or a short run of screen printed tee shirts by a local surf store as opposed to one of a billion from a mass market surf brand. There is a definite growing desire for objects made from scratch – with an attention to detail and quality. They are rare, collectible, artisanal, not disposable – and this kinda links with all the crap being thrown in the ocean. What does that says about us as humans when we use something once and throw it away without a thought for where it came from or where its going? There’s also an element of nostalgia in there, too. I feel that hand drawn or hand made objects can bring joy to a person the way maybe a computerized version cannot. It takes us back to a friendlier, happier era when the world was a little simpler and our rubbish bins weren’t so huge. What do you hope your reader will gain from reading Aloha to Zen? A refreshing moment of sanity and fun – a break from the monotony of the mass market, over commercialized machine the surf industry sometimes feels like. As one friend described the experience of reading Aloha to Zen – you will lose yourself and come out the other side transformed! It has an alternative take on environmental concerns that is both more straightforward and to the point, and yet funner and lighter than some of the preachy stuff that gets around. There are many layers to this book – you can take from it however many layers you want. The whole second half gets a little deeper & darker (thus the darker paper stock!) and is very much influenced by the ‘way out’, spiritual development publications of the seventies I used to read in my spare time as a kid! Then theres a whole layer of surf history kinda semi-hidden. There’s references to windsurfing, kneeboarding, v bottoms, no leash, paddle camping, Morning of the Earth, olos, paipios, alaias, surf swaps etc. Then theres a layer of great haircuts! Living in Leucadia was the perfect place for hair/beard/moustache inspiration! Most of the characters in the book are boys – they are funner to draw and no one hassles you later, the way people do if you draw girls (even though they aren’t real) with ‘why are they so skinny!’ no one worries if you draw a boy with skinny legs! The book is overall a holistic look at surfing and how it can teach us some pretty great life lessons! I really tried to keep any reference to brands or big names outta there. I find that aspect to surfing quite boring. I really enjoy the new magazines and websites dedicated to the joy & fun of surfing, the characters rather than the pros and that tie in a respect and concern for the ocean. without which we couldn’t immerse ourselves in this beautiful world! What’s next for Fern Levack? Well, I am really enjoying creating a series of embroidered cushions and wall hangings (you can see a few on my website) featuring the great (according to me) personalities and mantras of surfing. So far I have completed the Gerry Cushion, the Nat Cushion, the Keep the Country Country Cushion along with a few others. In the works are homages to Rell Sunn, The Duke, Michael Peterson and Bobby Owens. I choose my favourite phase of their life story and go crazy embroidering it into a pretty radical cushion. A 3D
version of the book I guess. I also create fine art posters along the lines of the Aloha to Zen philosophy. I think a little exhibition somewhere in California with some fine Australian beers will be in order shortly! Learn more about Fern Levack and her work or to order her book,click here. Aloha to Zen is available in the US at Almond Surfboards in Newport Beach, Surfy Surfy in Leucadia, Deus ex Machina and Firefly in Venice. Photos by Simon Perini. (Editors note: We love Aloha to Zen and give it the highest possible rating. In fact, my wife, a non-surfer, told me that this would be the only book on surfing she would ever read.)
Have you ever fancied escaping the rat-race, a chance to stop running and start living? Drift has been talking to Fern and Damion who have done just that and set up a new life living in a rain forest. The Australian couple alongside five year old son Jake and Peanut the English Staffordshire terrier puppy live about an hour south of Sydney in a cedar A-frame house on poles in a sub tropical rain forest valley. They ended up seeking solitude and empty waves after spending many years in Australia’s craziest city beach, Bondi. They now live in a Royal National park roughly equal in size to the whole of Sydney, which is home to numerous points, reefs, uncrowded beaches and has enough space for Fern to keep her horse, Tex, nearby. Sounds Idyllic? That is because it probably is…
Fern is an artist and textile designer who is passionate about keeping alive the hand drawn and handmade in this age of ‘electrickery’. Her work is heavily influenced by her wild and free 70s childhood where she grew up on the pristine north-east coast of Australia, during the ‘Age of Aquarius’ where nature and imagination was all. She obsessively illustrates and embroiders a fantastical world in which surfers and environmental activists win the battle over developers and corporate giants.
Fern is heavily influenced by her wild and free 70s childhood Fern loves living on Earth, spending her time in the wooden treehouse she shares with partner Damion and in her overgrown vegetable garden. She embraces a lifelong love affair with horses and dogs and spends way too much time in the company of both her Clydesdale, which she can’t really afford, and Peanut, who really does smell like roasted nuts.
Damion is all about making friends and making surfboards. A passionate surfer, surfboard collector, surf historian and surfboard shaper in love in equal parts with the rugged beauty of the ‘Coal Coast’ south of Sydney and the rich surf history that is held in the beaches and points of Southern California. All his time is spent finding, riding, studying and talking about old surfboards. He lives by the surf swap motto of ‘buy high, sell low, enjoy the ride!‘ His vast collection (think more museum) is from the ‘Innovation period of surfboard design’ he told Drift. “I studied industrial design and have loved surfboards my whole life. As an industrial designer I’m interested in them from a functional, hydrodynamic point of view, how they work and why. Culturally I’m interested in the people, characters and places that went into creating them. Artistically I’m interested in them as unique hand made pieces of art or sculpture.”
By 1985 the surfing world has settled on thrusters and things have only moved in millimetres since then “I’m most intrigued by the period of surfboard design from 1978 to 1983 – the innovation period or ‘T2,’ short for the second transition period. The first transition period was when surfboards went from 10’ in length to 6’ and below. The second transition period is when surf board shapes went from single fins, to twins, to thrusters and beyond. Others call it the innovation period because through the 70s surfboard design, with a few notable exceptions, was pretty static, just flat bottom single fin pin tails. Then there was a brief period of experimentation when twin fins took hold and guys were trying channel bottoms, tear drop designs, three fins, four fins, five fins! By 1985 the surfing world has settled on thrusters and things have only moved in millimetres since then until the recent ‘ride anything’ movement came along.”
The A to Zee ® collection of tees and beach shack home wares is inspired by the book “Aloha to Zen - The art of Surfing and Living on Earth” by Fern Levack. A to Zee ® is about sandy cars, wet dogs, and meditative dawn patrols. Its gear for communing with the ocean, ripping in obscurity, living life as an anti-contest not bothering the sharks, being a giver not a taker and living the noble life of a beach bum.
alohatozen.com