John Brekke was born in Chicago in 1955. He first studied art at the Chicago Art Institute and received his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1999-2000 he traveled in Australia as a Fulbright scholar where he produced a body of work entitled "Narrative Overlay." His work is in the collections of the Australian National University, Kristallwelten in Wattens, Austria, Corning Museum of Glass, Carnegie Museum of Art, Daichi Museum in Nagoya, and the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Brekke has received numerous awards including a New York Foundation for the Arts and a Pollock-Krasner award. He lives and works in New York City with his wife and two children.