John D. Dawson was born and raised in San Diego, California. From the age of three, John and his family knew that art was his calling. With the complete support of his working-class parents, they allowed him to follow his dreams. He graduated from The Art Center School, Los Angeles, California which is now The Art Center College of Art and Design established in Pasadena, California.

     John spent time in the Army Reserves while he worked on the beginning of his art career. Detroit, Michigan and some automobile art kept him occupied for about a year after graduation and then he returned to San Diego and worked in the advertising art business while doing freelance jobs on the side. Eventually, after 16 years in advertising, John went out on his own. The United States Postal Service, National Park Service, United Nations, National Wildlife Federation, University of Hawai’i at Hilo I'miloa Astronomy Center, and the National Geographic Society, Audubon Society, among many others, have used his talents including private commissions.

     Over the last eleven years, John has worked continuously with the United States Postal Service. The Nature in America series is one of his proudest accomplishments along with a majority of the new art displayed in the recently renovated Kilauea Visitor Center here at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

     Currently John is working on a long-term project which will display fifty years of his drawings in various forms of display.
     John, and his wife Kathleen, have lived in Hilo, Hawaii for the past twenty years. He finds inspiration in travel, family, and the ordinary details and events as well as the extraordinary.