A resident of Monument, Colorado, Joe Bohler was born in Montana and grew up on a ranch just north of Great Falls.  He became a workshop instructor at the Scottsdale Artists' School and is a nationally recognized artist, one of the reasons being he is a founding member of the Northwest Rendezvous group.

He is a six-time winner of the C.M. Russell Auction's Best of Show Award, a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, and the Allied Artists of America and a member of the National Academy of Western Art, where he won two gold medals.

In 1994, he was commissioned to paint the famed actor, country singer, and songwriter Tex Ritter.

In spring 2000, he was one of two artists featured in the Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous Exhibit in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

His date of birth is recorded as 1938, 1940, or 1943.