"Monica Stewart is an African American artist residing in Northern California. Stewart's parents encouraged her artistic pursuits as early as age 4.. While growing up in Oakland, California, this early parental patronage, as well as support throughout her school years, helped cultivate her talent enough to earn a four year scholarship to the San Francisco Art Academy. She then transferred
...see more » to California State University at Hayward, where she majored in Art. One of the artists she studied under was Raymond Saunders, a very influential figure in her education. Instead of getting her degree, she cut her studies short to work as a flight attendant, and eventually raise a son. This allowed Stewart no time for painting, which caused her talent to remain dormant. Some fifteen years later in 1990, with some time off from work, she had the freedom to get back into painting. Her refreshed interest in art coincided with meeting a new friend and neighbor, best-selling novelist Terry McMillan. As Stewart recalls, ?She'd come by and we'd talk about what's going on with her. We're around the same age, and I saw how she was using what was a natural gift for her and making it work. She was the first person to see my pieces and say, ?I'll buy that!'" Stewart's preferred medium is pastels, as she explains, ?I love the brilliance of the colors and the way you can manipulate them." Of her work, and the predominance of women in her paintings, she says, ?I have a good understanding of myself as a woman, so I do tend to paint a lot of women. I have a lot of girlfriends, and we talk a lot. So in my work you'll see a lot of women interchanging, talking, doing whatever." Her natural abilities have taken her far with early work predominately in pastels that is sensitive to people of color with a vibrancy of color and tone. Stewart has become a nationally recognized artist and has worked in various mediums exploring common human experiences that are not only unique but also personal. Recently, she decided to challenge herself further by working with Egyptian palm fronds and confined her color palette to the natural browns and tans of the palm frond materials. Stewart uses a combination of India ink, acrylic paint and watercolors to paint the positive imagery of people in action. Stewart's work can be found in galleries and at retailers across the United States and she continues to live and work at her studio in Northern California is the Bay area. Stewart's work has included a Commemorative Calendar for Bank of America and the California State Lottery, features in television shows and movies. Besides original oil paintings, she has a number of limited and open edition prints, and she a line of family books, photo albums and journals. "« see less
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