Toledo, Ohio is the unlikely birthplace of romantic realist painter Stephen Kuzma. In 1951, he won a First Prize Scholarship to the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He came to New York in 1954 to study at the Art Student’s League, and went on to train at the National Academy of Design in 1958. He served in the US Navy from 1955-57 where he painted a 30 foot mural for the Sea Bee Base Library.

Over his six decade career, Kuzma has exhibited all over the country from The Berkley Center at Yale to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to the Toledo Museum. He has won awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the Toledo Museum and the National Academy of Design. His work is collected by individuals, corporations, galleries and museums.