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Economy tough on S. Point artist, surfer
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SOMERS POINT - The U.S. economy's stumble was the financial equivalent of a mammoth breaker that caught too many people off their surfboards.
Jamie Kelly, 34, is a surfer and an artist, and he remembers his colleagues in the art community being among the first to spy the wave.
"As artists in general, I think we started seeing this downturn three years ago," said the Somers Point resident, who is preparing his portfolio of surfing-related sculptures and paintings for Ocean City's Art of Surfing Festival, which will kick off a month from today.
Buying art seemed to be the first extravagance people lopped off their budgets, Kelly said. He has sold about 40 percent of his work since he moved to the area after art school.
"It hardly pays for the utilities, I'll tell you that much," Kelly said. He puts in 60 to 70 hours per week at other jobs, in surf shops and on construction crews, when he is not with his wife, Dana, and his 15-month-old son, Keegan.
Kelly's signature series features a surfer made of twisted wire and his wood surfboard - usually 2 feet and 3 feet high, respectively. He began making surfboard art from discarded hardwood-floor scraps he picked up on a construction job. The wire surfers began on a smaller, dashboard-friendly scale as a project for him and a friend.
Painting still attracts him, but "I like getting my hands dirty, getting splinters," Kelly said.
The pieces go for $50 to $500. As for his customer base, "most of them are surfers themselves, and some are just moms and dads of surfers that want something cool for their kids."
Kelly said he works hard to be eclectic and different from a genre he fears is too in love with "cartoony little waves." He makes functional art such as surfboard tables, too, and he hauls his stuff to as many shows as he can handle.
In between, Kelly said he is absorbing the milestones of his little boy, whose new hobby is impersonating animal sounds. Mostly seagulls.
"I've got a pretty booked-up summer. Hopefully I sell a lot of stuff," Kelly said with a grin, "for everybody's sake."
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If you go
The ninth annual Art of Surfing Festival will be held Aug. 6 to 8 at the Ocean City Music Pier on the Boardwalk at Moorlyn Terrace.
Posted in Atlantic on Monday, July 6, 2009 3:05 am
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