Surf art fans gathered at the Hurley Headquarters on Friday night to pay tribute to glasser Greg Martz, who has made a name for himself with unique artwork created from resin.

It was a  room filled with fans and fellow shapers, including Bob “the Greek” Bolen, Tim Stamps, and Almond Surfboards owner Dave Allee.

Martz, 63, owner and chief laminator of Waterman’s Guild, said he was blown away by the turn out.

“I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that this is happening. I still feel like it’s a joke. I feel like someone is going to pull the rug from out of me,” he said, wearing a lei around his neck at the reception. “It’s beyond my dreams.”
CHECK OUT SNAPS FROM THE NIGHT:

Martz built his first surfboard at age 14 in his garage in La Mirada. He went to high school in Huntington Beach, where he met his mentor Sonny Vardeman.

“It wasn’t long before Sonny began showing Greg how to laminate, hot coat and sand. With that foundation, Greg honed his skills with Russell, Gordie, Windansea, and Plastic Fantastic. In 1972, Greg got a job at Surfglas in Santa Ana working with Sterling Santley and designer Geoff Prindle. This was a seminal time for Greg, defining his direction much as college was supposed to do. Surfglas was sold in ’75 and Greg plied his craft for Infinity, Bruce Jones, Rick James, Lightning Bolt and others,” according to the Waterman’s Guild website.

He went on to glass boards for Shawn Stussey, Bob Hurley, Gotcha, and Quiksilver.

Through the years he started dabbling with artwork from color resin, and his unique pieces started to accumulate.

He put them away in his office, where he quietly stashed his growing collection. There were the slow years when everyone was using clear glass, but when Rich Harbour, the shaper and Seal Beach shop owner, started using color again about a decade ago, Martz started to bring out the creativity once again.

Recently, a Nike design team came by to watch him glass boards, and when they walked into his office, they immediatly recognized the talent.

“They walked in my office and freaked out,” he said.

Martz, now 63, then got a call from longtime friend Bob Hurley, who brought the art team in and viola, the art show was put on.

By a few hours into the event, he had sold many of the pieces hanging on the walls of the Hurley compound. He said someone once referred to his art as “organic abstract,” which had a good ring, he said.

“I just goof around with the stuff. Some of it comes out better than others,” he said.

More info on Martz, go to watermansguild.com.

More Orange County beach news:

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.