Grant Levens was born in 1956 in Ellensburg, Washington. He grew up in the Tacoma area. He went to Jefferson Elementary and graduated from Curtis High School in 1975. He attended Central Washington University where he majored in art. In 1988, he earned a Masters in Education at the University of Washington.

Levens is a self-taught glass-blower. A Washington State certified educator, he was an instructor for seven years at the Hilltop Artists-in-Residence glass-blowing program. There he worked closely with sculptor Italo Scanga, mixed media artist, Thurman Statum, and renowned glass-blowers such as Einar and Jamex de la Torre, and Robby Miller.

Contact with these artists influenced his work. He began to include references to Mexican art, Chicano culture, and Day of the Dead alongside his growing interest in popular culture trends such as automobiles, snowboarding, skateboarding, and musical culture of the Pacific Northwest and the American West Coast. He often incorporates random and recycled materials into his work. He is influenced and reaps continual inspiration from the work, life, and ideas of Robert Rauschenberg and Marcel Duchamp.

Currently Levens is head of Foss Fine Arts where he tutors young artists and experiments with new media and ideas. He has been working with young artists at Foss Fine Arts for the past twelve years. He is currently collaborating with two Tacoma area artists on a series of works celebrating life through imagery traditionally associated with death.

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