Stephan Velten was born in Potsdam (Brandenburg) in 1954. He studied at the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin from 1974 to 1979, among others with Werner Stötzer, and graduated with a diploma in painting and graphic arts. In 1990 he co-founded the Potsdamer Künstlerverein e.V. In 1994 he received a working scholarship from the Stiftung Kulturfonds. Stephan Velten lives and works in Potsdam.