Skye Walker
Artist, Surfer, Adventurer
San Diego, CA
Escape Rig: 2020 Toyota Tacoma + X1 Camper
Skye Walker merges his passion for the natural world with his talents as an artist and mural painter. When he's not chasing the horizon with a paintbrush, you'll find him out in it - surfing, mountain biking, or sleeping under the star-filled desert skies of Southern California. We recently teamed up with HEST to create a custom pillow case featuring Skye's artwork.
What inspired the artwork you created for the HEST X Super Pacific pillowcase.
I love owls- they are so fascinating and when thinking of sleeping an owl as the focus for the art was a fun choice. Not only is it a cool creature, but most are nocturnal, so while we sleep they fly around and do their thing in the dark. So the owl is a metaphor for our dreams flying through our minds while we rest. The trees and mountain that are on it’s back connect to the Pacific Northwest where HEST and Super Pacific are based. Plus, I went to high school and college at Oregon State University, so the PNW is special to me.
You feature nature and animals a lot in your artwork: How does camping and exploring inspire your artwork?
Mother Nature provides endless inspiration for me and so many in the world. The colors of flowers, the sacred geometry of shells from the sea, the immensity of mountains and so many animals that are majestic that you can’t see it all in one lifetime. To be able to extract textures from plants and color palettes from the Cascade mountains or hues from a wave are the elements I crave to bring dimension to my art and murals. Getting out to camp and immerse myself in places I don’t live or get to see all the time infuses my soul with excitement because I know I’ll get back to my studio or start my next mural with fresh ideas based on the places I’ve camped at and explored.
Does your escape rig have a nickname?
The Granite Arrow. It’s charcoal grey, like granite you’ll see in the Sierras and it flies straight like an arrow when I’m on the road. Seemed fitting.
How have you dialed in your X1 Camper?
I love how the camper is so streamlined and built like a plane, so many points inside the camper to hang things, accessorize and utilize valuable space. My good friend Parker Onufer helped me build out the back of the camper with a platform and 6ft drawer to keep my paint and / or adventure gear in one side and left the other part open for surfboards, gear, etc. He helped me dial in a lighting kit as well so with the access points that SP built into the camper. So when I open it up and flip the switch, it lights up beautifully for packing stuff, organizing or just being at my campsite. I kept the design very minimal to accommodate the different adventures I go on, and usually it’s a mix of a mural trip and a bike or surf trip so I can drive up the coast to say, Oregon from California, paint a mural and camp & surf on the way back.
What’s your favorite thing about what your X1 allows you to do?
It allows me to go almost everywhere without being cumbersome. I can pull into a parking garage in a big city and not be too tall to enter, so I’m very sleek in that regard but I also know I have a whole tent and basecamp with me whenever I need it. The attachment points on the inside are so rad too, as I mentioned my friend helped me dial in the interior lighting and those attachment points made it very easy to accessorize my rig.
Favorite weekend getaway spot with your X1?
Anything with surfing or mountain biking. But, I did go camping in Anza Borrego in Southern California recently and drove through the deep canyons and camped out and it was so epic out there. I love the ocean and mountains but the Southern California deserts have some real magic to them you can only feel when you’re exploring them.