Joe Hodnicki

Joe Hod­nicki is an East Coast surfer/artist who works in all medi­ums from paint­ing to shap­ing his own boards. He has been suc­cess­ful in being able to turn his pas­sion for art and surf­ing into a life of stoke. We spoke with Joe to learn more.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
Ever since I could remem­ber, I had a pen­cil in my hand. Art, surf­ing and cre­at­ing played a huge role in my every day life. I was always draw­ing, build­ing some­thing, play­ing music or surf­ing. If I ever got in trou­ble in class, it was for draw­ing and not pay­ing atten­tion … or mak­ing my home­work and tests a col­lage of doo­dles.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I walked into a sec­ond­hand sport­ing goods store when I was super young. I saw this old, yel­lowed 6’2” WRV hang­ing on the wall and I had to have it. Using the money I saved from cut­ting my neigh­bors’ grass, I bought it and it’s still part of my quiver today.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I remem­ber think­ing “Am I surf­ing?” while float­ing on the white­wa­ter. But, the first time I stood on a board I shaped myself stands out much clearer. I was in Puerto Rico, pad­dling into one of the longest rights I’ve ever caught. I screamed, yelled and laughed the entire ride. That was a good day.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young boy?
I was the only one in my fam­ily that surfed, so I lit­er­ally had no influ­ences when it came to surf­ing, the his­tory or cul­ture. Maybe that’s what drew me to it in the first place. But grow­ing up and being an artist? Every­thing about art inspired me. I swore one day I’d be a car­toon­ist for Dis­ney. I knew some­one work­ing for them and I thought she was the coolest. Then, Sal­vador Dali’s work became an obses­sion of mine even though I was too young to real­ize what a crazy mind he had.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
After grad­u­at­ing col­lege I think I was like most 23 year olds are—lost. I had no clue what I was doing, but I knew what I loved: art, surf­ing and the ocean. I moved to St. John in the Vir­gin Islands, where I lived in a tree­house and worked at Maho Bay, an eco resort in the rain­for­est, in exchange for liv­ing. The expe­ri­ence of being in the water and nat­ural land­scapes every day was life-changing and molded much of who I am today.

Who or what inspires you?
Pas­sion­ate, hard-working peo­ple. I love sur­round­ing myself with peo­ple who are moti­vated to cre­ate their own paths. It always helps me see mine clearer. Through my cloth­ing com­pany, okoto, I’ve met some really amaz­ing peo­ple in the indus­try that have helped fuel my creativity.

What is your process for cre­at­ing your art?
Usu­ally it comes out of an idea to try some­thing new. I often get bored stay­ing in cer­tain areas or medi­ums for any length of time. I love work­ing with oils, mixed media, block print­ing and wood work­ing. I often take an idea, a photo or an inspir­ing sit­u­a­tion and pull a moment out of it. My art often reflects these moments cap­tured in time, allow­ing my audi­ence to expe­ri­ence them through my mind.

Tell us about your lat­est ven­ture.
Lately, I have been work­ing on a series of oils called “The Art in Shap­ing”. It cap­tures those raw moments in the process of board shap­ing, which, as a garage shaper myself, I see as its own art form. I’m also putting together some ideas for a line of fur­ni­ture, which you can learn more about in the near future on my site.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Some­times I feel like I haven’t learned any­thing. Just when you think you got it, life throws you a curve­ball to change it all up again. I guess I have learned that we all need to take things not so seri­ously and start liv­ing in the now. We cre­ate our own paths and need to learn from the past, not live in it. Still, we should always be grate­ful for what we’ve expe­ri­enced and how we’ve grown.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I know it sounds cliché, but … noth­ing. I am a strong believer in that things hap­pen for a rea­son. Every hobby I’ve had, every place I’ve lived—schooling, rela­tion­ships, good deci­sions and bad decisions—have brought me to where I am today … sit­ting on my porch, drink­ing cof­fee, doing what I love to do and answer­ing this interview.

What are you most proud of?
My fam­ily and the good peo­ple in my life.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I love it. Like all surfers out there, I love the feel­ing you get slid­ing down a long line. What grabs my atten­tion more than any­thing is the his­tory of it all, the way the past gen­er­a­tions cre­ated this sport. For me, surf­ing holds way more weight than just being in water fight­ing for a peak. It’s about the moments and lifestyle every day that, in one way or another, have been influ­enced just by the cul­ture itself.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Being in the water, even just near it. Hav­ing paint on my hands. Drink­ing a hot cup of cof­fee or a cold beer. Shar­ing laughs with my fam­ily and friends. Brain­storm­ing on my next project.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Per­son­ally, who I feel are shap­ing the path, are the video­g­ra­phers cap­tur­ing and pro­ject­ing the moments in the sport and indus­try as a whole. We get to share these expe­ri­ences, which we might never oth­er­wise wit­ness, through their vision. I really dig the more indie– style films that allow surf­ing, trav­el­ing and the lifestyle itself to feel attain­able to any­one who has a pas­sion for it. Exam­ples would include Thomas Camp­bell, Tay­lor Steele, Rus­sell Brown­ley and Emmett Mal­loy, to name a few.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I love to ride all dif­fer­ent kinds of boards—planing hulls, hand­boards, etc. I enjoy how dif­fer­ent every one of them is, and get stoked try­ing out new boards. As for surf spots, I love the South end of Long Beach Island, New Jer­sey in the fall. Until I surf a per­fect, long left point­break, I guess you can say I’m still searching.

What’s your favorite meal?
Sushi … and lots of it!

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
The vari­ety is too large to list, but when I paint, it’s usu­ally Zep­pelin, Floyd or Cit­i­zen Cope.

What are you most grate­ful for?
Any oppor­tu­nity that comes my way which allows me to con­tinue on my jour­ney as an artist, a surfer and an individual.

What’s next for Joe Hod­nicki?
Man, where to start? I just hope to see all my pur­suits con­tinue to grow—from my art to my cloth­ing com­pany, okoto. I love being able to inspire peo­ple through the many avenues of my work. For me, it’s just all about “shar­ing the stoke”.

Find out more about Joe Hod­nicki and his art here.