Donald Stoltenberg earned his bachelors degree in Visual Design from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1953. He ventured to Boston in 1954, where he worked as a graphic designer at Container Corporation of America before establishing his art studio on Commercial Wharf in 1960. There, he immersed himself in marine art, focusing on ocean liners, while refining his abstract expressionist style and teaching at institutions such as the DeCordova Museum School and Castle Hill Center. Stoltenberg's artwork has been featured in major exhibitions across the United States.