Michael Cassidy was born in a small town just north of San Diego, California. This is where he has spent most of his life. He is the product of a 20th Century social anomaly which came to be known as the Surf Generation. It was centered largely in the Southern California area in the 1960's. Surfing was a way of life and it became more than just a sport; it produced its own unique perspective. Cassidy still surfs daily, but he has also gone on to explore and discover extreme parts of the world about which many will only wonder - Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Bora Bora, Raiatea, Moorea, Tahititi, to name a few. He says that he shot thousands of photos, sailed, surfed, canoed and made lots of friends. He earned his education the hard way, spending 3 years in the fine art/commercial art program at Palomar College in Southern California, and another 2 years in the Illustration Program at California State University at Long Beach.
He took two more years when he returned to Palomar to study life drawing and painting classes. He then spent the next several years in various art-related assignments such as poster design, commercial illustration, magazine work, advertising, photography, design, etc. Over the years, his credentials have grown to reflect a fairly impressive list of clients some of whom include Sports Illustrated and the PGA. He has also done book covers for McGraw/Hill, Henry Hout Harcourt Brace-Jovanivich, the Chicago Tribune, Golf Magazine, Adolf Coors, Patagonia, Inc., The Discovery Channel, Seagrams; and many more.
