As a young boy, John showed very little artistic promise, yet he inherited a curious creative gene from his mother’s side and at the age of 24, in the tropics of southern India, began pen and ink illustrations and acrylic surrealist paintings at an ashram, The World Academy of Wonder.

On his return to Vancouver in 1976, he attended Langara College where he acquired a diploma in Fine Arts. He then moved on to Emily Carr University of Art + Design graduating in 1985 in the fascinating world of ceramics. He was commissioned to create ceramic relief murals of sea life for local and international restaurants, businesses and hotels.

John subsidized his sculpting by refinishing yachts, home restoration and finishing carpentry, while concurrently teaching ceramics for ten years with the Vancouver School Board.

In 2019 while walking local beaches, he discovered beauty in random pieces of driftwood and transferred his love of ceramic sculpture into creating whimsical wooden vessels with animated clay characters.

Blowing Up Growing Up is John’s first published poetry collection.