‘Harbour Chronicles' Surfboard Exhibit Opens Feb. 13
Tuesday, February 02, 2010




More than 40 classic and contemporary surfboards shaped by renowned surfboard designer Rich Harbour will be on display at Orange Coast College’s Doyle Arts Pavilion from Feb.13th through April 9th as part of “Harbour Chronicles–A Life in Surfboard Culture.” The public is invited to an opening reception, including refreshments and entertainment, on Saturday, Feb.13th, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Admission is free.

A special opening reception for OCC students, faculty and staff will be Wednesday, Feb. 10th, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.

The exhibition, an ambitious presentation of surf culture, includes rare photographs, vintage clothing and many of Harbour’s original shaping tools. Since 1959, Harbour has crafted more than 23,000 surfboards. He also established Harbour Surfboards 40 years ago in Seal Beach. His work is collected by enthusiasts around the world eager to grab a piece of true surfing history. A full color, 144-page book, “Chronicles,” will be released during the exhibition and will be available at the Arts Pavilion Gallery Store.

The show, curated by Mitchell De Jarnett and Greg Escalante under the direction of Andrea Harris-McGee, director of the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion, is sponsored by Honolua Surf Co., Ocean Life, Inc., and the Orange Coast College Foundation.

Not only a celebration of surf shop culture, the exhibit is also a tribute to Rich Harbour, one of California’s seminal surf industry figures, and his contribution to the lifestyle.

“I consider Rich Harbor a master sculptor and engineer,” Harris-McGee said. “The exhibition will present a behind-the-scenes look into the shaping process. Orange Coast College has an enrollment of more than 24,000 students who live near the coast, “so this is an art, history, and culture event that has specific, local meaning to the students and to the residents of Orange County,” she added.

The inspiration for the exhibition is the book Rich Harbour has been compiling for most of his life. “Chronicles” traces Harbour’s shaping career, artistic endeavors and surf shop business from the beginning of the modern surfing era in the 1950s to the present day.

Curators Greg Escalante and Mitchell De Jarnett are both longtime surfers and historians of the sport. De Jarnett was a Harbour team rider, factory worker and shop employee, and he knows Harbour’s work intimately. Escalante helped curate numerous art exhibitions, including one on surf culture for the Laguna Art Museum.

De Jarnett brought the original concept to Escalante when Rich Harbour was trying to get a small book about his life published. “I took one look at the array of material—from museum-quality surfboards to never-before-seen film footage of Honolua Bay in the 60s—and said, ‘Why don’t we do a big book with an exhibition to go with it?’”

Working together, De Jarnett and Escalante took Harbour’s exceptional collection and fashioned it into a lavish presentation.

Pat Fraley, president of Honolua Surf Company and a lifelong surfer from the Seal Beach area, agreed to underwrite the project. “The heart and soul of surfing begins in the backroom shaping bay of the surf shop,” observed Fraley, who was a young surfer during Harbour’s heyday. “That’s where shaper and surfer can customize the equipment to create the magic that lasts a lifetime,” he added.

Robert Howson at Ocean Life Inc./Harbour Surfboards is also a sponsor for the exhibition, which will run through April 9th. Additional activities are planned around the show and will bring attention to the importance of the surf shop in shaping the California beach culture.