Maris Turner’s enthusiasm for both snowboarding and art seems to feed off each other in a continuous loop. Turner’s artistic inspiration, he claims, comes from the collective knowledge of everything he’s experienced. And what he’s experienced, among other things, is a wide-eyed love for snowboarding that goes back to the nineties. The end result of this being an endless well of board-sport culture and history tucked into the back of Maris’s mind that he can dig up when looking for inspiration. The two boards he designed in the 26/27 line—the Pretty Good Company and the Talent Scout—are prime examples of this. The Pretty Good Company riffs off the old 39 Twin, a legendary Burton graphic, while the Talent Scout borrows from the faded stickers on surfboards. For nerds in this space, you and I no doubt included, hearing Maris talk is a wonderful reminder that, no matter when you were born, each generation gets to experience something great here.
"...a big part of my process is compiling inspiration. If I'm not drawing or working, I'm looking for stuff. Whether it's old books, weird obscure references, hand-done signage, the most naive stuff is my favorite, where you don't know what you're doing, but it looks so cool and unique..."
Norm: Can you do a quick intro: your name, what you do, what kind of art you create, and what your connection is to Burton?
Maris: My name is Maris Turner. I've been freelancing for Burton for over two years, but I used to work in-house for seven or eight years, I believe. For my artistic background, I kind of describe myself as—I guess classically trained, like in fine art: painting, drawing. I really love drawing. It's my favorite, and then a lot of digital stuff now too. It's kind of the evolution of the creative field. It’s being pushed digitally. So I guess classically trained, moving to digital, trying to learn as much as possible. Always learning and figuring stuff out as I go.
Is that a reluctant move to digital? Do you still crave the feeling of drawing on paper?
Yeah. I mean, I love drawing so much. It's my passion. I have so many sketchbooks filled up, but, you know, with time constraints and everything being a rush, I feel like it's been pushed digitally for the last maybe 10 years. And I think everyone now, with AI, is like trying to get the pushback and get the hands-on experience and really dig in and get away from the screens because I feel like they're so overwhelming. Everything you're doing is on a screen. You're at work, you're on a screen. You're at home, you're scrolling on a screen. You're watching whatever Netflix show. So it's just a nice way to get detached from all that stuff.
Oh, for sure. And on the art side, you've been working either freelance or in-house with Burton for a while. Do you find that over time there are certain continuous themes or continuous inspirations that you draw from when you're making these boards? Are there ideas that you keep coming back to?
I feel like it's kind of a culmination of all my experiences, all my past. Everything just compiles in the back of my head subconsciously, and being able to execute on that when someone has a specific ask, it's really nice to dig back there whether I know it or not. And a big part of my process is compiling inspiration. If I'm not drawing or working, I'm looking for stuff. Whether it's old books, weird obscure references, hand-done signage, the most naive stuff is my favorite, where you don't know what you're doing, but it looks so cool and unique that it's great. I try to recreate that too sometimes, but it's hard when you know all the rules.
I feel like that kind of fits into the snowboard ethos as well of: you find some style that you don't even know why you like it, but it just is drawn to you.
Exactly. And I have such a short attention span when it comes to drawing stuff. I hate drawing things twice. Like, even when I'm drawing people, I'm like, "Oh, fuck. Another eye? Goddammit." I'm over it before I finish, and I never want to do the same thing over and over again. So my process is very turn-and-go, and execute. If it doesn't work, start something new, do something different, and move on.
Can you tell us about the graphics you did this year? It was the Pretty Good Company and the Talent Scout, and I feel like both of those boards are kind of on different vibes, but they're both cool in their own way. Can you kind of just talk about each of them?
The Pretty Good Company was inspired by the old rap-rock, horrorcore kind of scene, with the ICP obviously being a huge reference for that. I guess I probably drank too much Faygo as a kid, and got over-influenced by that. But that stuff's always stuck in the back of my mind. I'll always love their old logos. It's what I was talking about earlier: just the naive, shitty—you don't really know what you're doing, but somehow you made something so cool and iconic that it just sticks in the back of your head, and you're always kind of subconsciously referencing it if you want to or not. So I think that's where that came from. And when I was presenting it, I was just throwing it out there. I was like, "Hey, I think this is cool. We haven't really done something like this from Burton for a while, so it's nice to see." And obviously through the placement, it was referencing the 39 Twin—the old Burton board with the two girls back to back, stacked on top of each other. It's just a nod to that in a weird way.
Can you tell us about the Talent Scout?
The Talent Scout was—that was another one where we didn't really know which direction we wanted to go. I pitched a bunch of ideas, and one of the things that stuck out to me when I was designing it—I was like, “You know, there's kind of a cool, surfy vibe, like a mourning of the earth, 1970s hippie, very tuned-into-the-earth kind of vibe." And I love the idea of the laminate stickers they put on the surfboards with resin over them. You can kind of see the little faint outline of them, and just the aged look of yellowed surfboards is so cool to me. And those old graphics and logos are so cool. So channeling that stuff from the Mike Hansen rainbow logo with the arch and pulling that in there. And then the Pegasus thing is always a timeless, cool, and whimsical element that you just kind of put in there. And then you put the Earth and the Moon, and it's just—it kind of tells its own story.
"I really love drawing. It's my favorite, and then a lot of digital stuff now too. It's kind of the evolution of the creative field. It’s being pushed digitally. So I guess classically trained, moving to digital, trying to learn as much as possible. Always learning and figuring stuff out as I go."
Obviously, there's so much more detail than an average person might see, especially with all these little references that maybe people won't pick up on. Is there a favorite detail you have here, or maybe an Easter egg, maybe something that sticks out to you that most people won’t realize at first glance?
I guess the 13 coming out of the tongue. There's nothing really crazy in there. I just like the texture and the details of the scanned-in, distorted element on both of those. Because they both have similar aesthetics, but two totally different vibes. One's kind of the Joker, a little bit dark and moody, and the other one's very light and airy and whimsical. And it's cool to pull that off with the same-ish style.
Do you have any parting words or final thoughts?
I'm just stoked and honored to be working on snowboards. It's such a cool thing. I never thought I'd be able to do this growing up in Michigan, where you're not on the coast, and you don't know anyone that's making cool shit like that. We're so far removed in the Midwest, especially in the '90s, when there weren't skate parks. You had to figure it out on your own, build your own. And snowboarding up in northern Michigan, the hills are tiny, and you're just trying to make the best of the situation that you have. So going out west for the first time was just mind-blowing. And then to be able to break into an industry from not knowing anyone or anything is a pretty awesome feeling, and every time I get to see my work out on the slopes, I get so hyped and want to talk to the person—but I don't because I don't want to embarrass myself [laughs].
The Talent Scout is a true twin camber snowboard that delivers pop and precision for stomping landings and locking into rails. Women's-specific flex optimizes riding characteristics for lighter riders without sacrificing response. The camber profile is a do-it-all workhorse that handles freestyle and all-mountain riding without compromise.
The reliable twin design and traditional camber of the Pretty Good Company (PGC) are optimized for taking on the park. PGC is built for riders who appreciate the timeless response of a standard shape and bend, with all-mountain versatility. Expect a smooth mix of durability, speed, and pop, so it's perfect for hitting features and stomping landings across the hill.
