Featured image: Golden Girl. Photo by Alexis Di Stefano.
The first surfboard Alexis Di Stefano worked on still carried a Hawaiian floral print. “It was large, heavy, and weathered,” she wrote in an email interview with Scapi.
Holes and weathering suggested a life in the surf to Di Stefano. When she began changing the board, its outline was something she wanted to keep: “I wanted to give it a new life representing Malibu’s coastline and preserved the shape of the board.”
Her reference for that new work came from a walk along the same coastline. “I was a Malibu beach lifeguard and one day while taking a walk, I found crystals in the rocks on Malibu’s coastline which inspired this piece and my surfboard designs,” she wrote.
The board became something that could hang in a home while retaining the shape of an object made for the water.
“The surfboard went from a forgotten memory to wall decor as a representation of Malibu’s beauty, paying homage to the coastline that has brought joy to each generation, including myself,” Di Stefano wrote.
That connection between an object and the people who have lived with it also shapes what she hopes someone will notice in a finished board. “My wish as an artist is that each of these boards hanging in homes remind you of the memories from your childhood,” she wrote.
Di Stefano describes those memories as something that can outlast the board’s first use. “May these boards also serve as a reminder that no matter how many generations pass, there are stories to be told and that the memories you make with your family are precious.”
