Born in May of 1953, EJ Stapleton was educated through the Boston Public School system where he sought out any and all opportunities to sharpen his innate ability to express himself through art.  During his senior year of high school, the Headmaster, Dr. Reid, developed what was dubbed an Arts Major program that gave students multiple art classes per week, unheard of in the public schools, as well as the opportunity to visit Arts programs at institutions throughout the city. For EJ this was the catalyst that both validated and gave direction to his artistic drive.

After high school, in the mid 1970s, an opportunity was offered that took EJ to Italy for two years. There he studied painting and drawing in cells dotted in and around Rome. In 1977, EJ left Italy for New York where he was taken under the wing of Joseph Solman, a founding member of the American Expressionist group The Ten which included the artists Mark Rothko, Ben-Zion and Adolf Gottlieb. Until his death in 2008, Solman remained a friend, mentor and guiding hand for EJ’s artistic development.

EJ Stapleton currently lives and works in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.