Hurley bringing art to US Open

Though Vans is the new sponsor of the upcoming US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Hurley wasn’t going to let the skateboarding brand have all the fun.

Hurley, a four-year supporter of the competition with parent company Nike, will host a weeklong screen-printing event where guests can pay $25 for a screen-printed T-shirt and poster designed and created on site by street artists from around the country.

Led by art director Jason Maloney, the Costa Mesa-based company will take over the Livery Design Gruppe bike store at Walnut Avenue and Third Street in downtown Huntington Beach and convert it into a screen-printing shop.

The event will kick off Monday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and finish on July 28.

“It’s about engaging the kids,” he said. “I’m a 38-year-old guy that likes to act like a kid most of the time, but what [do kids] want to be a part of? Instead of having a booth with shirts, why not make it a working environment like this?”

What Maloney is referring to is a workspace located in the front office at Hurley’s headquarters in Costa Mesa.

“If the surfers have waves and the skateboarders have a skate park, then the artist should have a gallery,” he said.

It’s currently set up as a makeshift screen-printing area, with places where employees or artists can make their own designs and press them onto posters. Posters of anchors, skulls, chainsaws and even a smile with some missing teeth line the wall of the work space.

“As the brand evolves, this space changes,” Maloney said. “It’s been a gallery, an installation, a movie theater and now it’s a working environment. We’re getting the graphic designers off of the computers and more into the handmade stuff.”

Maloney said a different artist will be featured each day, with three designs for guests to choose from. Some of the artists include James “Dalek” Marshall, Madsteez, Craig Stecyk and Tim Hendricks.

To make the experience different each day, the bike store will be decorated based on the work of each artist, Maloney said. Also, a wall will be made available for artists to paint on for the duration of the event.

“It’s not just some bathroom wall, which has a nice elegance in its own right,” Maloney said. “It’s about the artist. It’s about their wall and that wall can live on [the Hurley] campus afterward.”