Guy Bevill Succumbs to Cancer at 67 : Laguna Artist Who Started Own Festival Dies

Guy Bevill, an independent-minded Southern California artist who started his own festival in Laguna Beach after his work was turned down by the established Festival of Arts, died Monday of throat cancer. He was 67.

Bevill, who painted landscapes, seascapes and portraits in oil, organized the Reject Festival in 1963, and, in that year, he exhibited his work as well as that of other artists who had been turned down by the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts. In 1973, Bevill helped organized the Discovery Festival in Laguna Beach.

Born in Naborton, La., Bevill studied art at Centenary College in Shreveport before entering the U.S. Air Force. He moved to Laguna Beach after he retired from the service in 1959.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bevill opened and closed three studios where he taught art classes. Each studio, one in Laguna Beach, one in San Clemente and the third in Huntington Beach, was named after him.

Glenn C. Jones, Bevill’s friend for 26 years, said the artist, who had participated in the Laguna Beach festival the two previous years, was rejected in 1963 because he refused to follow the festival’s rules forbidding dogs on the grounds.

Jones said Bevill would not part company with his Afghan dogs. “I was right there taking care of his Afghans,” Jones said. “He was a most unusual person.”

Bevill is survived by his wife, Gertrude, and two daughters, Gerdette Hensley and Margaret Krul, all three of Spokane, Wash.; two sisters, Vivian Neugent of Houma, La., and Mary Myers of Mooringsport, La., and three brothers, Clyde Bevill of Vivian, La., and Bruce and Bill Bevill, both of Mooringsport. Bevill is also survived by four grandchildren.

His body will be cremated and the ashes scattered at sea.