Mary Heilmann talks about “Visions, Waves & Roads”

Mary Heilmann, San Gregorio, 2012 Oil on canvas 38.1 x 30.5 cm / 15 x 12 in

THE WAVES have always been in my life and work. My father was a bodysurfer and as a kid I would join him on the beach in San Francisco. I have a very early memory of watching him in the huge, crashing, cold surf. Whenever I’m in the Bay Area, I go to the beach and check it out. California remains a big part of my life even though I’ve lived in New York since 1968.

I went to Santa Barbara to study literature in 1959, and I got by just fine, but I never really felt like I was there for academic reasons. The surfing scene was really cool back then. I was constantly zooming up and down the highway from Santa Barbara to Mexico, stopping at all the surf spots. One of my boy pals from school loaned me his surfboard, and I tried it, but never pursued it. I wouldn’t say I ever really surfed––not too many girls did back then. But I loved to watch.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Creative Culture, Surfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.