BORN IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA IN 1933 AND RAISED ON THE BREAKS OF SAN CLEMENTE, SEVERSON CAME OF AGE WITH A BOARD UNDER HIS ARM AND A PAINTBRUSH IN HIS HAND. SURFING IN THE LATE 40s AND EARLY 50s, DOODLING AND FILMING, HE WAS INADVERTENTLY DOCUMENTING A GOLDEN SO CAL ERA. IT JUST SO HAPPENED THAT SURFING ITSELF WAS BREAKING INTO THE MAINSTREAM CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE SAME TIME. AFTER RECEIVING HIS MASTERS AND A SHORT STINT TEACHING ART AT LAGUNA BEACH HIGH SCHOOL, HE WAS DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY.

FORTUITOUSLY STATIONED IN HAWAII DURING HIS ARMY YEARS, SEVERSON PICKED UP A BETTER CAMERA AND NEVER LOOKED BACK. HIS EARLY SURF FILMS — SURF, SURF SAFARI, SURF FEVER, BIG WEDNESDAY — COMPLETE WITH HIS OWN LIVE NARRATION, BARNSTORMED UP AND DOWN THE CALIFORNIA COAST, ELECTRIFYING A GENERATION. HE AND HIS WIFE LOUISE WOULD POST THE MOVIE FLYERS ON TELEPHONE POLES; THESE WOULD LATER BECAME COLLECTOR'S ITEMS. HE CREATED THE ICONIC SURF FEVER TYPEFACE TO ILLUSTRATE HIS PROJECTS, A FONT NOW SYNONYMOUS WITH SURFING ITSELF. YEARS LATER BIG WEDNESDAY WOULD INSPIRE THE 1978 FILM OF THE SAME NAME.

THE SUCCESS OF HIS FLYERS HAD HIM THINKING THERE WASN’T ANY PRINTED SURF MATERIAL AROUND, AND THERE SEEMED TO BE SOME DEMAND. TRUSTING HIS GUT, HE TOOK A GAMBLE AND DECIDED TO CREATE A SELF-PUBLISHED SURF MAGAZINE. THE SURFER. IN 1960, WHEN THE FIRST BUNDLE WAS DELIVERED TO A LOCAL SURF SHOP, HE WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE LINING UP AROUND THE BLOCK. ALL 10,000 COPIES SOLD OUT WITHIN DAYS. WITH A MIXTURE OF RELIEF AND CELEBRATION, HE GOT TO WORK. AND SO, WITH $3,000 AND A VISION, HE CREATED SURFER MAGAZINE. THROUGH ITS PAGES, HE LAUNCHED THE CAREERS OF CARTOONIST RICK GRIFFIN, PHOTOGRAPHERS RON STONER, JEFF DIVINE, BRAD BARRETT, AND ART BREWER, AND DESIGNERS JOHN VAN HAMERSVELD AND MIKE SALISBURY — A WHO'S WHO OF SURF CULTURE'S CREATIVE DNA. HIS PHOTOGRAPHY, IN TURN, WAS PICKED UP BY LEADING PHOTO JOURNALISM MAGAZINES LIFE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, PARIS MATCH AND STERN…

A FORCE IN THE WATER AS WELL AS ON LAND, SEVERSON WON THE PERU INTERNATIONAL SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 1961 AND WAS A FINALIST IN U.S. AND HAWAIIAN SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS. HE WAS SOON TO LEAVE COMPETITIVE SURFING HOWEVER, PREFERRING TO SURF ON HIS OWN TERMS, AND COMMIT HIMSELF TO THE GROWING BUSINESS OF THE MAGAZINE. IN 1968, LIFE DEVOTED TEN PAGES TO THE UNIQUE STORY OF THE MAN MAKING A LIVING SURFING.

BY THE TIME SEVERSON SOLD THE MAGAZINE IN 1971 — FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF HIS CULT CLASSIC SURF FILM, PACIFIC VIBRATIONS — MONTHLY CIRCULATION HAD SURPASSED 100,000 COPIES, AND SURFER HAD BECOME THE UNDISPUTED BIBLE OF SURF CULTURE. BUT FOR SEVERSON, IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE THE PUBLISHING WORLD BEHIND. HE MOVED TO MAUI TO DEVOTE HIMSELF TO SURFING, PAINTING, AND GETTING BACK TO THE LAND. WHAT FOLLOWED WAS AN IDYLLIC CHAPTER SPENT RAISING A FAMILY AND EMBRACING A SLOWER WAY OF LIFE.

IN HAWAII, SEVERSON WENT ON TO PURSUE A HUGELY PROLIFIC ART CAREER, AND RETURNED TO FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY AND PHOTOJOURNALISM. BETWEEN STINTS GUEST EDITING SURF RELATED PUBLICATIONS, HE DESIGNED AN ACCLAIMED TEXTILE COLLECTION FOR THE LEGENDARY JAPANESE BRAND TOYO, AND ALOHA SHIRTS FOR HONOLULU HERITAGE LABEL KAHALA. IN 2004, HE PUBLISHED SURF FEVER: SURFER PHOTOGRAPHY , FOLLOWED A DECADE LATER BY SURF (DAMIANI BOOKS), THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE MONOGRAPH SURVEYING HIS EXTRAORDINARY CAREER ACROSS PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY, FILMMAKING, AND PUBLISHING.

THE ACCOLADES FOLLOWED A CAREER THAT COULD NEVER BE CONTAINED BY A SINGLE TITLE. SEVERSON WAS INDUCTED INTO THE INTERNATIONAL SURFING HALL OF FAME IN 1991 AND THE HUNTINGTON BEACH SURFING WALK OF FAME IN 1995, NAMED WATERMAN OF THE YEAR BY THE SURF INDUSTRY MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION IN 1997, AND RECEIVED THE SURFER POLL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN 2011. IN 2019, A BRONZE STATUE OF SEVERSON WAS UNVEILED OPPOSITE DOHENY BEACH IN DANA POINT, ALONGSIDE HOBIE ALTER, PHIL EDWARDS, AND BRUCE BROWN — A PERMANENT TRIBUTE TO THE MAN WHO GAVE SURFING ITS VOICE, ITS IMAGE, AND ITS SOUL.

JOHN WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ARTISTS TO CREATE A SUBSTANTIAL BODY OF WORK INSPIRED BY CALIFORNIA-HAWAII SURF CULTURE. HE PASSED AWAY IN 2017 AT HIS HOME ON MAUI. HE WAS 83. THE WAVES ARE STILL SPEAKING HIS LANGUAGE.