Hershell West is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area as a painter, a muralist (both for his own commissions and as chief assistant to muralist John Wehrle), and a teacher of at-risk youth.  He has also been very active in supporting the arts, serving as president of several civic arts & cultural commissions, as president of the board of important arts organizations, and the like.

For health reasons he has had to give up his art, but responding to his deep love of nature, he has turned to photography.

Born in the segregated South, West got his training in art at the University of South Florida where he also discovered his love for using art as a way to engage with society.  He painted the first mural commissioned by the city of Tampa, and later executed several others before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has lived ever since.