Stevan Jennis has been interested in painting, drawing and sculpture since childhood. He was inspired by his father, who was an artist and Merchant Mariner. Born in Newark, New Jersey, the family moved to Los Angeles when Steve was eleven. Jennis attended UCLA graduate school, receiving an MA in art, then went on to the University of Massachusetts where he taught and earned an MFA in painting and sculpture. He moved to NYC in 1976 to pursue his career as an artist and received acclaim for his versatile work, in particular his notebook painting series, space paintings and his dog-inspired sculpture and paintings. Jennis moved to the Hudson Valley in 1996. His studio is in a renovated 1890 dairy barn in Red Hook.

Jennis' artwork has been shown nationally and internationally including such places as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum of Art, The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art and the Albright-Knox Gallery. In addition, he has shown in several Hudson Valley venues such as The Hudson Opera House, Carrie Haddad Gallery (Hudson), Northpointe Cultural Center (Kinderhook), Spencertown Academy and The Arts Center of the Capital Region (Troy). He is represented in many private and corporate collections.