Color is the actual subject of my paintings no matter what the motif. I admire drawing in other artists above all other talents and have spent many contented hours with a pencil and paper, however, it all seems to evaporate when I get back to the studio and squeeze out some color. In art I am a ”general practitioner” rather than a specialist. I approach each canvas as an individual case and solve its problems with whatever technique or medium that seems to work. I do not have a formula that I apply to every painting. I am as suspicious of that kind of painting as I would be of a salve that proports to cure any disease.

John Wagnon was born in Montgomery, Alabama, February 9, 1933. Educated in Montgomery schools, Starke University School, attended Auburn University (then A.P.I.), and Graduated University of Alabama, A.B. in history. He was the founding editor of the Mahout, a University of Alabama campus literary/humor magazine. He was selected for ODK, a senior men`s leadership honor and after graduation worked in New York City two years for Grey Advertising after which he returned to Montgoemry to work in the family business until retirement in 1988. He married Judy Means of Gadsden, Alabama in 1957 and they have two children and two grandchildren. He continued his education by taking art courses offered by Huntingdon College, Auburn University (through their continuing education programs) and the Montgomery Art Guild workshops. John served two terms as president of the Montgomery Art Guild, served as March of Dimes Chairman for Montgomery County, served as president of the Montgomery Mental Health Association, served on the board and two terms as president of the Montgomery Arts Council and he was appointed by Judge Frank M. Johnson to serve as a member of the Human Rights Committee at Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
For the last six years he taught drawing and painting as an adjunct instructor at Auburn University in Montgomery and now currently teaches in the art department at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama.