John D. Richards was born in 1936 in Fond Du Lac, WI.  His mother was an artist & his father a writer. He received a BA in English from Union College in Schenectady NY & taught English, Spanish & Art for four long years. In 1963 he quit his job, moved to NYC, took various courses at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and began his freelance Art career. He has been creatively unemployed ever since. Today, he shares his life and studio with potter Claudia Dunaway in Burnsville, NC.