Surf | John Severson, Fender Sonoran SCE
John Severson biography. Founder of Surfer Magazine and Surfing Hall-of-Fame surf culture artist, Severson is noted for surf movies, surf posters, prints, paintings and aloha shirts.
John Severson, well known as the creator of the internationally acclaimed SURFER Magazine, grew up surfing off the beaches of Southern California. He began his career as a painter, selling his first works while finishing his Master's Degree . at Long Beach State College.
In the '50s he became the first person to create a large body of art relating to the Hawaii-California surf culture. Since then he has provided a steady output of oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints.
The posters, smash hits in the '50s and '60s, remain collector favorites.
With the founding of SURFER, John's art focused on the magazine and graphics. His painting "Surf Bebop" was selected as the outstanding cover painting of 1963 by Communication Arts.
C.A. devoted five pages to Severson's magazine and film work in 1970. During the '60s, he authored two surf books for Doubleday. In 1968, LIFE Magazine ran 10 pages on Severson's family and surf success.
Over the years, John has continued a parallel career in photography; his work has appeared in LIFE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, PARIS MATCH, GERMAN STERN, and others and was selected for a '60s SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SPORT-IN-ART show in New York.
John Severson was voted into the Surfing Hall of Fame in 1993, the Walk of Fame at Huntington Beach in 1995, and given a lifetime achievement award by the Surf Industry Manufacturers' Association as Waterman of the Year in 1997.
- From an artistic standpoint, John Severson is a true original. Every mark, from the smallest doodle to the largest gestural brush stroke on a major oil painting, is clearly his own individual statement. There is no doubt in my mind that John Severson's art works will pass the test of time, both as unique artistic statements and as an important visual record of the developing surf culture.
Fender John Severson Woody Sonoran SCE Acoustic Guitar
If anyone knows surf guitar themes, it's Fender. I saw these two guitars in the Fender display at NAMM. These guitars are both acoustic/electric and they are single cutaway. The designs are by John Severson, an artist and publisher. Apparently, Fender has a California Series of guitars, and these are the two models for this year. I think they did a fantastic job!
