Surfing is often referred to as art in motion.

And shapers have long been deemed artists.

So wouldn't that make a surfboard, then, a canvas?

That's the argument four friends — all surfers — make in a new art show called "Blank — A Surfboard Show for Art's Sake," which opens Wednesday at the Pegge Hopper Gallery in Chinatown.

The idea surfaced about four years ago in the already-busy mind of local artist, fashion designer and surfer chick Rona Awber Bennett.

She had envisioned a show that featured a range and diversity of art and artists.

Finally, this month, that all has come to fruition.

The show features 10 artists — including Bennett. Two board-builders shaped the 14 ridable boards, and demonstrate the artistry of resin work on four of them.

Together with husband Jeremy, gallery manager Melanie Yang and shaper/board-builder Eric Walden, Bennett has put the obvious on display: Everything about surfing can be art.

"It was something I had always wanted to do," said Bennett, whose fish is littered with photos of shakas. "I wanted to do something with local artists and with a diverse group of artists ... who had a different way of looking at the theme of surfing."

The boards on display are indeed different.

There's the nipple-esque shortboard designed by emerging artist April Lee and the deeply personal Rastafari fish by graphics guru Jef Hartsel.

Even Pegge Hopper dropped in with two designs of her own.

"Surfboards, skateboards, motorcycles — anything with speed involved is exciting," said Hopper, who bodyboards but doesn't surf. "And they're beautiful things. Artists have done so many interesting things with (surfboards) over the years ... It's fabulous — and it's a no-brainer. Anything with a surface, people want to decorate it. It's human nature. People want to put their mark on it."

The idea of putting art on surfboards isn't revolutionary.

Punk-collage artist icon Winston Smith — think Dead Kennedys album covers — designed surfboards that toured the country — including Honolulu — last year.

The prolific and notorious street artist Shepard Fairey has designed surfboards, too, one of which is for sale for $2,000 at Surf Garage in Mo'ili'ili.

A similar exhibit of custom-designed, fully functional surfboards and skimboards, called "Flow," ended last week at the Peter Blake Gallery in Laguna Beach, Calif.

But "Blank" is distinct in that it brings together artists of varying styles and perhaps more importantly, varying experience in the water.

Specifically speaking, not even half of the artists in the show surf.

That makes for some interesting interpretations.

Take the tubular abstract artwork on a 7-foot, 10-inch '70s-style board by Timothy P. Ojile. Or the shortboard with a logo for the fictional, and rather ironic, Chinatown Yacht Club by Rich Richardson. (Both artists don't surf.)

Ojile, who has painted on everything from driftwood to string, calls the show's concept "a great idea, because surfing is so iconic to Hawai'i, And there's a lot of space (on the board) to actually do something."

Richardson used his shortboard as a vehicle to play with a contrasting East-meets-West theme.

"I like the juxtaposition of the grittiness of Chinatown with the snottiness of yachting," Richardson explained. "The surfboard is the poor man's yacht. That's what inspired the piece."

The idea for the show may be simple, but the process was anything but.

Traditionally, to put art on a fiberglass surfboard, the artist silkscreens the design onto rice paper. But that process compromised detail.

For this show, the organizers, through trial and error, devised a way to digitally reproduce each artwork on a special paper, close to a traditional fabric inlay, that was glassed onto the boards — in this case, the last of the Clark Foam blanks.

It was expensive — but worth it, Bennett said.

This is her way of spreading her love of surfing. And she's all about that. In fact, for her board, she incorporated that idea of sharing her stoke.

After a morning surf session at Tonggs with Yang, Bennett grabbed her camera and walked along Kalakaua Avenue, snapping photos of people flashing the shaka sign, then had the images of shaka hands imbedded in her board.

"I feel so stoked when I go surfing, and I was thinking about what would express that same feeling and I thought of the shaka," Bennett said. "I wanted to spread the stoke."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.