This fish-shaped handplane is part of our Ventana Handplane Artist Project collection. It's a performance, bodysurfing art-piece and features an incredible woodburning of a woman electrically wired through her nervous system to the ocean and its creatures. It was hand-burned by the incredibly talented, Jessica Kendall-Bar.

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Jessica is a scientist by training, in her third-year of a PhD program at UC Santa Cruz, where she studies the neuroscience of sleep in marine mammals. She attended UC Berkeley, where she studied Marine Science and Integrative Biology. She has experience researching oceanic geochemistry, octopus behavior, marine arthropod mating, moray eel behavior, and marine mammal neuroscience. She has published three peer-reviewed scientific articles and has received multiple awards for her academic and research accomplishments. These include the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Steve & Rebecca Sooy Graduate Research Fellowship, the UC Regents’ and Chancellors Scholarship, the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship through NOAA, the Charles H. Ramsden Endowed Scholarship, and UC Berkeley’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

Jessie believes that scientific progress is futile unless communicated successfully. Jessica’s illustrations, photography, and cinematography aim to accurately portray science and its role in preserving the underwater ecosystem. She creatively depicts underwater organisms in imaginative illustrations as well as immersive underwater photography.

As an illustrator, she has illustrated two children’s books. Her most recent book, Looking for Marla, tells the scientifically accurate story of a clownfish which changes sex from male to female.

The wood is spruce from Santa Cruz Guitar Company production offcuts. We glassed it with Entropy Resins, a bio-based epoxy, and Aerialite Surf Glass. The hand strap is nylon and adjustable. It is covered with neoprene from a Buell Wetsuit, and the wood is shaped with our unique, ergonomic hand fit. The hardware is solid brass. As with all Ventana handplanes, this one floats so you can easily pass it between friends in the waves.

It comes with a free cinch sack made by Sagebrush Boardbags from coffee bags and remnant fabrics.

You only need a single handplane on your leading arm for a great ride every time! This is a terrific conversation piece in your home and will slice you across the face of any sized surf.

Shaped, finished, and designed in Santa Cruz, California by master artisan, Martijn Stiphout

Click here for progress pics and videos!

Dimensions: 13" x 8.25" x 3/4"

Weight: 1.3 pounds