Stephen Backhus is an internationally exhibiting artist and award winning unorthodox educator. He creates social interventions, cultural collages, interactive installations and poetic performances that incorporate drawing and sculpture. He use these expressive vehicles to bring forth the urgency of living life to the fullest, in the moment, and to call attention to the fleeting nature of life. He describes his creative works, at heart, as acts of responsibility and appreciation that celebrate undervalued spaces, materials, and communities, bringing them forth as gifts or opportunities to be honored.

Steve did his undergraduate training in drawing and sculpture at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design | MIAD, and his MFA in sculpture/expanded formats at Indiana University. He currently teaches a class called "Painting: principles, practice, and presence" at the Armory Art Center.