Stefan H. Verstappen

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About the Artist

Stefan H. Verstappen (born 1957, Toronto, Canada) is a multi-medium artist, writer, world traveler, and martial arts master.

Verstappen’s early paintings were framed and have hung in his elementary school hallway to this day. He began taking art more seriously at the age of fifteen after his first solo canoe trip into the wilds of Algonquin Provincial Park. There he made a pilgrimage to the cabin of Tom Thomson one of Canada’s famous Group of Seven painters.

Following the tradition of Canadian painters, Verstappen became an adept woodsman and later worked as a guide and out tripper in the very same park. At the age of sixteen, he backpacked alone through Europe where he spent many hours wandering the Louvre in Paris, the Vatican Museum in Rome, and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. 

Verstappen worked odd jobs while traveling across Canada, the US, and Europe before entering Ryerson College in 1977 and attending York University from 78 to 80. While at York U Verstappen drew a weekly comic strip published in the college newspaper The Seer titled ‘Zero’ that lampooned the college pub scene.

Verstappen opened his first studio, SunDog Studio, in 1981 in historic Kleinberg Ontario nearby the McMichael Gallery; the largest collection of Group of Seven paintings. During this time he worked in stained glass and watercolors and exhibited both at local galleries.

From 1985-91 Verstappen lived and traveling throughout China and East Asia. While in Asia he studied oriental art, culture, and Kung Fu. Verstappen is a master of the Lohan School of martial arts and one of the few westerns to have lived and studied Kung Fu in China. During this time he worked in acrylics focusing on oriental themes.

Verstappen's Kleinburg Studio c.1981

Verstappen published his first book: The Thirty-Six Strategies of Ancient China, China Books & Periodicals, SF, in 1999. He also drew the 18 Pen & Ink illustrations that illustrate the chapter headings in the book.

His second book, Blind Zen, Red Mansion Press, SF, 2001, he relates the story of his experience teaching a blind woman Kung Fu and Zen sensory enhancement exercises. This led to his research into synesthesia and ways of making art more accessible to the disabled.

Verstappen’s next book; Chinese Business Etiquette, will be published by Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, in spring of 2008

Recently Verstappen has been working in multimedia recreations of ancient Chinese motifs.