title: Stephen Beal
text: # Stephen Beal
  
  Stephen Beal is an American artist recognized for his colorful grid paintings. In addition to his artistic career, Beal is an educator and since 2008 has been the president of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Oakland, California.
  
  ## Education
  
  Beal attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and earned his M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
  
  ## Career
  
  Since 1972, Beal has had numerous exhibitions of his work, and has received many commissions and grants.
  
  From 1973 to 1977 he was a part-time instructor and technician at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1980 to 1983, he was assistant professor of art appreciation, collage, photography studio, and design studio at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois.
  
  From 1993 to 1995 he served as chair of graduate design and as an associate professor of painting at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1995 to 1997, he was vice president of academic planning and associate vice president of academic affairs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He taught courses in studio painting and still-life painting, and was a graduate and post-baccalaureate advisor. He was also a faculty counselor in admissions.
  
  Beal was appointed provost of the California College of the Arts in 1997. He was appointed president of the California College of the Arts in 2008.
  
  