Born in Nuremburg Germany, Bierhals studied at the Cooper Union, National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Bierhals was an early and long standing member of the Woodstock colony where he established the Bierhals Art Gallery and conducted his own school. Pepper's Garage, now defunct, is the present day site of Maria's, a restaurant and gourmet delicatessen off Tinker Street in Woodstock.