Shawn Alan Whisenant

Shawn Alan Whisenant lived a big life in a short time. He died March 2, 2014, in San Francisco. Born Dec. 12, 1981, he shared the same birthday as his older brother, Warren. As a lifelong Giants fan, like his grandfather, Shawn developed a love of the sport as a first baseman for Little League.

Shawn began skateboarding at 10. He participated in many Bay Area skate competitions during his teen years. At 20, Shawn left Napa and moved to San Francisco. His first job was for DC Skates. Later, he worked as a freelance skateboard clothes designer. He was a sponsored artist of Van Shoes. One of his best-selling shoes was for Osiris Shoes. In 2012, Shawn designed a special-edition skateboard for Science Skateboard, London England.

As a professional artist, Shawn’s work has been shown in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Melbourne, and Tokyo. Shawn was proud to be in the art collection of the Japanese American Art Museum in Los Angeles. As a photo journalist, he took pictures and interviews of well-known skate personalities for the blog 48 Blocks. His work can be seen at the technology company Zazzle in Redwood City.

In 2013, Shawn participated in the first Los Angeles book art show at the Museum of Modern Art. He was well known in the “Zine” world for his handmade art books, which contained his own photographs. In Napa, his artwork was shown at di Rosa Preserve and Echo Gallery.

At the time of Shawn’s death, he was represented by Book and Job Gallery in San Francisco. Carson Lancaster, the owner, was very supportive of his career.

Shawn was preceded in death by his father, W.O. Whisenant, and grandfather, Warren Langon. Surviving members include his mother, Florence Whisenant; his brother, Warren Whisenant (Jenny); his nephew, Warren II; his niece, Lola; and companion Tiffany McColl.

Services will be held at Treadway and Wigger at 1 p.m., Saturday, March 8, 2014.