A son of a professional forester, Jim Wheeler grew up in rural USA. At university his interests were art and biology; graduating with a BA in Studio Art (cum laude) from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In botany he focused on how plant communities evolve which informs his sculptural practice today. In art he studied with 1st generation Bauhaus trained professors such as Bert Carpenter and sculptor Peter Agostini - one of the Abstract Expressionists.

Studying in the Modernist period, Wheeler’s early influences were Brancusi and Noguchi. His first bronze castings were made with Herk Van Tongeren who later ran The Johnson Atelier where Wheeler was an apprentice in 1979-80. The Atelier was a sculpture institute built on the Renaissance model where apprentices worked alongside master craftsmen learning all the traditional techniques of sculpture. As an apprentice he was able to work on projects with Nancy Graves, Beverly Pepper, received a personal thank you from Georgia O’Keefe and was selected to head a team working with George Segal.

In 1981, Jim Wheeler immigrated to New Zealand to help set up Art Works sculpture foundry, thereby helping to re-establish bronze sculpture casting in New Zealand. In 1989 he became a full time freelance artist - teaching workshops, lecturing in sculpture at the Manukau Institute of Technology (1995-6), and establishing the Rock and Foam Department for The Lord of the Rings in Wellington (1999).

He began professionally exhibiting sculpture and drawings in 1979 followed by numerous solo and group shows both in NZ and overseas. His work is held in public collections throughout the world, including the British Museum in London and the NZ Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. In New Zealand, Wheeler’s work is held in the Auckland Botanic Gardens, the Auckland Museum and The James Wallace Trust (NZ).

Significant commissions include Rata/Pohutukawa Descending, 280 Queen St. Auckland; NZ Olympic Academy, Leonard A. Cuff Medal; The Arts Foundation of NZ, Governors’ Medal; XXX America’s Cup Medal; and Genesis, a courtyard sculpture in Hobson Gardens, Auckland.

Sample of NZ group exhibitions include: the Wallace Art Awards, Sculpture in the Gardens (Auckland Botanic Gardens), Brick Bay Sculpture Trail (Matakana), Sculpture on the Gulf (Waiheke Island), NZ Sculpture OnShore, Tai Tapu Sculpture Garden (Christchurch), Tauranga Art Gallery, Canterbury Museum, Art in a Garden at Flaxmere (North Canterbury), Sculpture in the Woolshed (Tawharanui), and Shapeshifter (New Dowse Museum).