In what region do you lay your head at night?

It depends on which part of the year it is, I have a place I call home in the country North of Toronto, Canada… and as well on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. 

Short and Sweet, what's your story and how did you get to where you are in life now?

I started traveling the summer I graduated high school and worked abroad every summer through university.  After I graduated, I tried settling down in Toronto, my home town.  It was totally a token effort and it wasn’t long before I sold everything and moved to Hawaii.  I’d been fascinated with surfing for a long time before that and after 2 summers of surfing in England, I wanted to try it in warm water.  I moved, stayed (not entirely legal I found out later) and began painting surfy/comic-book-y scenes of daily life.  They got picked up by a gallery and that’s when things really came into focus for me. 

What inspires you on a day to day basis?

Coffee, good vibes, skateboarding the NorthShore bike path, chats, wandering aimlessly, good color combinations, my music, wish chips…



What website(s) can people scope out to see your art?

My website is www.shinnoriginal.com, I try to update as often as I can, but the newest stuff can usually be seen on myspace(www.myspace.com/shinnoriginal) or facebook (Christie Shinn)

I’m also a part of  Pipergirls, a social network of girls who enjoy shredding and shred related activities (www.pipergirls.com).

In real life where can people see your work? (Gallery's, Installations, apparel, etc)

Currently my stuff can be seen at:

Wyland Gallery, North Shore

66-250 Kam Hwy

Haleiwa, HI

My Gallery (not actually my gallery, that’s the name of it…haha)

3838 Cross Creek Road

Malibu, CA

Icarus Skate & Snow

85 Broadway Ave

Orangeville, ON CAN

Future plans?

1: I am really looking forward to getting a small line of tees launched with my friends Jesse and Nicole who own Icarus, featuring my art.  I was hoping to get them ready for this spring, but we’ve all been so busy on other projects that we’ve had to push it back a bit.  I’m actually happy because it’s given me more time to research, doodle and get fresh new designs ready.

2:  My biggest goal is to have a company I love (like Element, Lifetime, Insight, Vans…) use some my designs for an artist series.  It’s what I wish for whenever I get a ‘wish chip’ (that’s when you get a chip folded in half.  If you swallow it after chewing only 8 times…it’s as good as a birthday wish)

CANADIAN GREAT LAKES SURF ADVENTURE

Location: Grand Bend, Lake Huron CAN

A few weeks ago I got a text at 1:45am

“BEEN WATCHING THE WEATHER, WAVES GOING TO BE PUMPING IN GRAND BEND”

What?  Who is this?... then another one:

“THIS IS GEOFF BY THE WAY”

I hadn’t seen Geoff Aucoin since elementary school and here I was arranging a surf trip in the middle of the night.  A few months ago we re-connected through some social network or another.  I was amazed to learn that after growing up together in the same central Canadian suburb and parting ways at 12, we’d both ended up surfing as adults.  (Probably only if you’d grown up in a place as isolated from surfing as Central Canada could you understand how odd that is.)

The water was rumbling in the distance when we pulled Geoff’s work truck up the driveway of his family’s cottage.  Geoff had been tracking the weather on the internet, which predicted 4ft waves rising to 8ft by the end of the day.  We cracked open some beers and surveyed the scene from the top of the bluff the cottage was perched on:  no channels, no sets just rows and rows of shoulder to head high waves breaking all at once.  Close-outs a hundred yards out all the way to the shore and as far down either side of the sand beach as you could see.  I wasn’t sure how we were going to get through it, but it looked like fun though, and I was stoked to get out my rarely used wetsuit and sticky grape wax.   There was like half a mile of stairs down to the beach and it was hard not to break into a run when we finally got to the bottom. 

It didn’t take either of us long to realize how useless it was to paddle since the waves were so close together.  They didn’t give you a break, just pounded relentlessly like a schoolyard bully. It took a lot of battling whitewash and a huge sideways current to get out so it was critical to make sure you didn’t waste all that by timing it wrong. The waves weren’t epic by any traditional standards but after a 3 hour drive, the hundred stairs and several beers…. each 5 second ride was like being a sea Queen carried ashore on the backs of my subjects! 

On the mid-deck we took a break and had a couple more Coors Light and contemplated the success of this spontaneous surf adventure.  As we talked, the blackish clouds had possied up from every direction, turning the previously cheerful beach into a dark and ominous scene like some post-apocalyptic zombie movie.  Further adding to the atmosphere of evil was the sideways traveling wind and rain that felt one step away from stripping the skin off your face like a lion’s sandpapery tongue scrapes flesh off a bone. While I was wondering why we weren’t seeking shelter, I looked at Geoff and understood: ‘Let’s do it’. 

We ran down the beach, clutching our boards with both arms and hurled ourselves back into the muddy water, pushing our way through for a few more desperate rides.  Finally satisfied that we gave the day our best, we headed for shore. 

In the distance were two strangers were holding up beers and thumbs.  We joined them for a couple minutes, and shared our stories, job descriptions, travel experiences….  Finally we packed up and got back on the road for home.  I sniffed the sliver of grape wax and wondered to myself when I’d be pulling it out next. 

Although it turned out to be the surf equivalent of a booty call (Geoff and I have not talked since), that impulsive Sunday session on a lake in the middle of Canada was a great reminder that adventures are everywhere.