The Creator of the "Surfing Madonna" Speaks

SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
By Jonathan Horne

Surfing Madonna artist Mark Patterson — John Gastaldo

CALIFORNIA — Meet the man behind the Surfing Madonna. He’s Mark Patterson, 58. He’s lived in Encinitas since 1983.  He has gray hair. He’s of average height and slender. He used to work in the software industry. And he believes in saving the ocean. Now, Patterson’s an internationally famous artist because of his rogue piece of Our Lady of Guadalupe riding a surfboard next to the words “Save the Ocean.” People gather to see the Madonna surfing mosaic on the railroad bridge support at Encinitas Boulevard. Local resident Brennan Savage photographs his son, Liam, 9. — Charlie Neuman “I’m not a public figure, I don’t feel like a public figure and suddenly becoming one is a little spooky,” he said in an interview Thursday with the U-T. [link]