Featuring hand-crafted and hand-painted surfboards and stringed 
instruments.
May 17, 2011 (Wilmington, NC) — “Birds of a Feather,” a special exhibition featuring artist Clark Hipolito’s original artwork on handcrafted guitars, ukuleles and surfboards, will open on Friday, June 10, at Deluxe restaurant in downtown Wilmington, NC.
The title of the exhibition, “Birds Of A Feather,” reflects the collaboration between Raleigh, NC-based artist Hipolito, surfboard shaper Will Allison of Wilmington, and luthier Jay Lichty of Tryon – the three North Carolina artists/craftsmen who are creating the surfboards and heirloom quality guitars and ukuleles for the show.
Hipolito, the founder of Art Co Surf in Raleigh, has been well known for several years for his hand-painted, wood-grain surfboards that are inspired by the Polynesian surfing legacy, Asian art, and Hipolito’s love of classic Chris-Craft boats.
In 2008, Hipolito applied his art to a guitar that was subsequently signed by performers at that year’s Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee and auctioned to raise funds for charity. As word of Hipolito’s hand-painted guitar circulated, other musicians commissioned him to paint guitars for them, including Michael Franti of Spearhead and country rock star Mike Gossin of Gloriana.
Through Gossin, Hipolito met Lichty, the 2010 winner of the prestigious Made in the South Award from Garden & Gun magazine who designed and handcrafted Gossin’s custom guitar. After they agreed to collaborate on a show, Hipolito contacted surfboard shaper Will Allison, an East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame inductee (2006) who has hand-shaped boards for clients around the world, including a quiver of surfboards for Jimmy Buffet.
“Will is a legend,” Hipolito said. “He’s been creating surfboards longer than anyone I’ve ever known.”
The three agreed to collaborate on the work that will be seen in the upcoming exhibition.
The opening reception for “Birds Of A Feather” will be held at 8 p.m. on June 10th at Deluxe, 114 Market Street, in downtown Wilmington, with live acoustic music provided by Sai Collins. All three artists will attend. The show will run through the summer.
For more information on the exhibition, go to lichtyguitars.com and click on the “Birds Of A Feather” link. A video on Hipolito’s and Allison’s work is also available on YouTube at http://bit.ly/msT3Q9.
For more information on Clark Hipolito, visit www.artcosurf.com.
About Clark Hipolito
Clark Hipolito is an avid surfer and artist and the founder Art Co Surf, a company and a brand that caters to anyone who has ever loved fine art and the high-energy lifestyle of the surfing culture. Hipolito’s body of art work has been featured on television shows and feature films, including “Sex and the City,” “Dawson’s Creek”, “One Tree Hill,” “Zombieland,” and “The Joneses.” In 2004, the NHL commissioned Hipolito to create a large-scale mixed media installation for the NHL Draft, which was held in Raleigh, NC, that year. Among his many celebrity clients are ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, Pink, and NFL defensive end Mario Williams. For more information visit www.artcosurf.com.
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