John Christian Anderson grew up in a working class neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. At an early age he visited Simon Rhodias's Watts Towers, which was not far from his home. It was an astonishing site and made a lasting impression. Over time these towers represented symbols of pure artistic vision, independence, and the down-to-earth attitude of using whatever materials are available. Later as a young student he traveled and sought out other artists and craftsmen working outside the mainstream. Shortly after graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute he was hired by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, which was started and led by Frank Oppenheimer. At the Exploratorium Anderson collaborated with artists and scientists designing and creating exhibits that were uniquely interactive. This experience had a lasting effect on his art work as well as his approach to teaching.
Anderson has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States which include the Robert Freidus Gallery in New York, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, the ICA Boston, The DeCordova Museum, The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, The Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, and the Boston Sculptors Gallery. In the Fall of 2020, he was part of a group of artists commissioned by the Fuller Craft Museum to create sculptural installations in response to the opioid epidemic that has ravaged communities throughout the Northeast. The exhibition was entitled Human Impact: Stories From The Opioid Epidemic. He has received three individual Artist Resource Trust Grants and a Traveling Scholarship from Tufts University to study counterfeit objects in Paris. His work is included in both public and private collections. This spring (2026) the Los Angeles–based PBS program Craft in America, has organized a nationwide celebration of 250 years of craft, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. Anderson’s wall sculpture “Hands” has been selected as part of The Duxbury Museums participation in this event, which marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
