The CSU Channel Islands Lecture series is a free, monthly event, featuring speakers from the CI faculty.
Wednesday, April 24 6:00 — 7:00 p.m.
E.P. Foster Library Topping Room
“Evolution of Surfing and the Culture Surrounding It”
with Jack Reilly, Professor of Art
Professor Jack Reilly attributes his career as an artist largely to surfing. He began surfing in the mid-1960s at the age of 14. Later, as a surf shop owner and board painter, he discovered his love for art, prompting him to leave the beach to study painting in Paris and earn his M.F.A. at Florida State University. Reilly is an internationally renowned artist, widely recognized as one of the key players in the Los Angeles art scene and the “Abstract Illusionism” movement. He has continued surfing as an important aspect of his life, while maintaining his art and teaching careers. In addition to chairing CI’s Art Program, Reilly also teaches a course called “Zen of Surfing.” Throughout Reilly’s 47 years of surfing, he has observed many cultural shifts, from the surfer as “outlaw” to the worldwide acceptance and professionalism of the sport. Reilly will also discuss how innovative technologies are involved in the production of surfing equipment, along with the extensive use of the Internet in long-range wave prediction and the observation of surf local conditions.