Dallas John was born on June 29, 1945 in Illinois. Dallas received his Bachelors degree in geography at the University of Denver, then a Masters degree in Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina. He worked as an urban and transit planner in New York and Berkeley over the course of 6 years. But he abandoned this profession because he was not fulfilled by the work, and so he turned to art. He began his artistic involvement while in Berkley by illustration his own research reports and newspapers articles about planning.

Dallas then spent a year traveling in Central and South America which provided a break from bureaucracy and changed his view on life. Upon returning to the United States He moved to Denver and started a graphic art profession. This eventually led him to do commercial silk screening, and in his spare time try to silk screen his own original art. This lead Dallas into development of the distinctive serigraphic style, which distinguishes the richly colored and textured works he is known for today.