Stephen Beal

Stephen Beal is a professor of painting and drawing, as well as the current president of CCA. In addition to his academic career, Beal is a practicing artist, and his work has been exhibited in the Bay Area, Chicago, and throughout the Midwest. Beal attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and earned his M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to his appointment as the president, Beal served as provost of the California College of Arts and Crafts. Beal addresses the qualities of paint and different methods of paint application. He has been incorporating collage elements and objects into his work, but his recent paintings have built upon his interest in materiality.

He serves on the board of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is board president of the internationally renowned Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, which fosters and promotes the art of people with physical, developmental, and emotional disabilities.