Biography:
Stepehn Griffen, a Maryland impressionist oil painter, is best known for his portraits of people and his landscapes, especially of Cheseapeake Bay and New England boats. Origianally from Pennsylvania, he studied at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He then moved to Maryland to study with renowned portrait artists Cedric and Joanette Egeli. His studies have included classical painting and architecture with Alvin Holm AIA, Impressionism at the Cape Cod school of Art founded by Henry Hesche in 1931, and classical drawing and design at Barnstone Studios in Coplay, Pennsylvania.

He is a member of Classical America, the Maryland Society of Portrait Artists and the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association. He won both the People's Choice and Best Marine Painting in MAPAPA's "Paint Annapolis 2002" exhibit. He was selected as Artist of Recognition in 2001 by the Portrait Society of America; also exhibiting his work in the 63rd Annual Juried Exhibition in 2003 at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, PA.