Jay Alders is an American fine artist, (home) photographer and graphic designer. He is best known for his original surf art paintings,

live painting Live painting is a form of visual performance art in which artists complete a visual art piece in a public performance, often at a bar, music concert, wedding reception, or public event, accompanied by a DJ or live music. The artwork which is creat ...

and is a well-known profile in

surf culture Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish ...

for his work with musicians, artists and cause organizations.

Early life

Born in

Lakewood Township, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community, as of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 135,158, its highest decennial count ever and a ...

, Alders was raised near the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...

Howell Township, New Jersey Howell Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is the largest municipality in the county by total area, comprising about . It is located in the New York metropolitan area and has been a steadily ...

. This environment provided an early-childhood influence for beach culture. Alders openly attributes

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

as one of his artistic inspirations. He graduated from Howell High School in 1991. Alders attended

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

and earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in art in 1996. At

Alders was a member and co-founder of the Gamma Mu chapter of

Theta Xi Theta Xi () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1864. Of all the social fraternities today, Theta Xi was the only one founded during the Civil War. Its Grand Lodge is ...

fraternity and illustrator for the ''Montclarion'' college newspaper.

Career and cultural impact

Although Alders drew and painted since childhood, it was not until his mid-20s that he started displaying his work at regional art shows. In November 2007, Alders toured

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

with musicians

Donavon Frankenreiter Donavon Frankenreiter (born December 10, 1972) is an American musician and surfer. His debut self-titled album was released in 2004 on Brushfire Records through Universal Music. Career Frankenreiter was born in Downey, California, United Stat ...

, G Love, and

Matt Costa Matthew Albert Costa (born June 16, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter from Huntington Beach, California, United States. He has 13 independent releases: 7 self-recorded EPs, 6 complete LPs, 4 of which are released via Brushfire Records. H ...

as part of the

Billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...

-sponsored ''Mostra Festival AlmaSurf''. The tour also included surf artists Celine Chat, Sean Davey, and other prominent personalities in the surf-entertainment industry. The tour helped push Alders' work into the global market, landing his artwork in art galleries, on skateboards and surfboards and television, including

Fuel TV Fox Sports 2 (branded on-air as FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in ...

. In 2008, dietary supplement company

Emergen-C Emergen-C is an effervescent, powdered drink mix vitamin supplement manufactured by Alacer Corp. The Emergen-C product line was introduced in 1978. Alacer was established as a private company in 1972, focusing on vitamin supplements containing vi ...

used Alders' artwork for a new packaging design, with a portion of the proceeds donated to the

Surfrider Foundation The Surfrider Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world's oceans, waves and beaches. It focuses on plastic reduction, water quality, beach access, beach and surf spot preser ...

. In February 2009, Alders designed musician and pro surfer

's Limited Edition Tour Poster. This modified version of Alders' painting, ''Rio Jam,'' was released during Frankenreiter's winter/spring 2009 West Coast tour. Alders contributions to Frankenreiter also included the artwork on his custom

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and a

flip book A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images appear to animate by simulating moti ...

animation for Frankenreiter's guest edition of

Surfer Magazine ''Surfer'' is an American quarterly magazine periodical focused on surfing and surf culture, founded in 1962 by noted surfer, writer, photographer, artist and humorist John Severson (1933–2017). The magazine went on hiatus from 2020 until Augus ...

, published November, 2008. Alders' artwork was used as a surfboard design for the first time in early 2009. His art piece ''Left Behind the Wall'' was shaped and distributed by 9Fish Surfboards. New Jersey–based reggae band

Echo Movement Echo Movement is an American reggae band based in New Jersey. As of 2012, they are a seven-piece band. Echo Movement performed on the House of Marley Stage on the Warped Tour 2012, according to the tour's official website. The band released t ...

used Alders' painting ''Burning Inspiration'' as the cover artwork for their 2009 release, ''In The Ocean''. Australian based Peter Dixon Band featured the Alders painting ''Home Slice'' as the album art for their 2011 release ''Long Way Home''. Reggae band

featured Alders' painting ''Star Crossed'' on their 2012 release ''Love and The Human Outreach''. Acoustic musician Gabe Gomez released his album "In My Island" in 2012 which features Alders' painting ''Sea Zen of Tranquility''. In 2012, Bermuda born reggae musician Mishka featured Alders' painting ''Out of the Blue'' on his album ''Ocean Is My Potion''. On August 24, 2013, Alders hosted a solo art show at Manasquan's historic Algonquin Theatre featuring much of Alders' original surf art as well as his other genres of work. Following the art show, Alders shared the stage with

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

icon G Love; Alders painted during G Love's solo performance. In 2014, Alders linked up with friend

Stefan Lessard Dave Matthews Band (also known as DMB) is an American Rock music, rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead gui ...

, bassist of the

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known as DMB) is an American rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead guitar), R ...

, to illustrate a setlist from the band's June 14, 2014 show in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

by request of Lessard. In 2016, Alders was commissioned by

Slightly Stoopid Slightly Stoopid is an American Rock music, rock band based in the Ocean Beach, San Diego, Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, San Diego, California, who describe their music as "a fusion of folk, rock, reggae and blues with hip-hop, funk, m ...

to create four art tour posters for their international music tours. In 2016,

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

–based musicians The Expendables commissioned Alders for a T-shirt design. The Expendables also performed several live shows while Alders did

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a decr ...

. In October 2016, Alders collaborated with

Rock Climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

World Champion

Sasha DiGiulian Sasha DiGiulian (born October 23, 1992) is an American professional rock climber who specializes in outdoor sport and big wall climbing with a background in competition climbing and bouldering. She won the gold medal at the 2011 International F ...

to create a painting inspired by her. In July 2017, Alders released a limited edition tour poster for the band 311 and their

, show at

The Stone Pony The Stone Pony is a music venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey, known for launching the careers of many New Jersey music legends, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. In July 2018, the band

released their new album "Everyday Life, Everyday People" which features an original Jay Alders surf art painting on the Album cover which is inspired by the band's hometown surf break Sunset Cliffs, San Diego. On October 10, 2018, Jay Alders and his wife Chelsea Alders, launched a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

, The Shifting Perceptions Podcast:Inspiration for a Creative Lifestyle., url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shifting-perceptions-podcast-inspiration-to-live-more/id1438321207?mt=2 ,

Charity work

In 2009 Alders was named an official

SurfAid International SurfAid International (often called just SurfAid) is an international charitable organization working in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia. It was founded by Dr. Dave Jenkins of New Zealand in 2000. In 1999 he was on a surfing trip in the area and ...

Ambassador for his dedicated philanthropic work for the organization. After

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

hit the

in October 2012, Alders took to action to help his home state. He was featured on Actions News Jax to cover his philanthropic support efforts. Alders helped organize donation drop off points and helped fill trucks with donations. In November 2012, Alders designed a charity hoodie and t-shirt design
which he sold on his website with 100% of the profits going towards Rebuild Recover, a local grass roots

non-profit to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. As of mid-2013, over $15,000 in support was donated from this campaign. In May 2016, Alders was named one of the 2016 Honorees for Hometown Heroes for his dedicated work raising money and awareness for the organization.

Personal life

Alders has lived at the Jersey Shore, first in Belmar and then in

Brick Township Brick Township is a township situated on the Jersey Shore within Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city retained its position as the state's 13th-most-populous municipality,

, together with his wife Chelsea Alders and his three children: Summer, Greyson and Judah."Industry Magazine Feature – 'Catch A Wave'"
JayAlder.com, July 6, 2015. Accessed August 7, 2016. "Although he enjoyed surfing among the dolphins and being inspired by the tropical beauty of Florida, Alders and his wife decided to return to Jersey in 2013 when Chelsea became pregnant with the couple's daughter, Summer Emerson, first settling in Belmar. The couple now resides in Brick with Summer (whose initials spell out S.E.A.), and newborn twins Greyson Dutch and Judah Kai."

Awards and honors

Alders was named a 2016 honoree by the organization Hometown Heroes.Gala Packet
sahometownheroes.com

References

External links

The official Jay Alders website

FuelTV interview with Jay Alders

Club of Waves interview with Jay Alders

SurfCareers.com interview with Jay Alders

Shifting Perceptions Podcast by Jay Alders & Chelsea Alders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alders, Jay Living people American graphic designers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists American photographers Howell High School (New Jersey) alumni Montclair State University alumni People from Belmar, New Jersey People from Brick Township, New Jersey People from Howell Township, New Jersey People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people)