John Wehrle was born in San Antonio and raised all over Texas. Never a gifted athlete, he compensated by becoming the best airplane drawer in the fourth grade. Finding success with this endeavor he continued a creative path, studying art at Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he was cartoonist for the student newspaper. Commissioned a Lieutenant in the US Army, in 1966 he was chosen to be the leader of the first “combat artist” team sent to cover the war in Vietnam. Paintings from this experience are now part of the permanent collection of the National Army Museum. John completed his MFA at Pratt institute in Brooklyn, taught as an assistant professor at CCAC in Oakland and later built a wilderness log cabin in central Montana. He began his career as a public artist under the CETA program, in 1975 at the de Young Museum with Positively Fourth Street, a 16 x 60’ mural, depicting endangered animals on an abandoned downtown San Francisco freeway.

For more than fifty years, John has created gargantuan narrative paintings and installations throughout California and beyond. John’s work has transformed public and private spaces in west coast cities from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Washington State; schools, libraries, civic centers, firehouses, train stations, banks, building walls and freeways. John has painted murals inside and outside museums and was one of ten artists chosen to paint murals for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. John created a series of signature paintings for Bay Area Biotech Firms and a number of prominent public artworks for the City of Richmond. Many of these monumental works have become urban landmarks. Knockout, painted in situ at Kate Mantilini Restaurant, was recently awarded historic status by the City of Beverly Hills. Mak Roote, Scribes and other works have received civic awards for excellence. John’s work has been featured in numerous books on Murals and Public Art, and Mur, Mur, a film by Agnes Varda.

He currently resides in Richmond, CA with his wife, Susan, chickens, turtle, and a 1944 “good enough” Gibson guitar.