Joel Stewart

Born: Danville, California, in 1959
Medium: Watercolor Painting, Etching and Aquatint

In 1982 Joel Stewart graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and Anthropology from Pitzer College, in Claremont, California. After continuing his study of painting and having various exhibits in California and Washington, Joel moved to Kyoto, Japan in 1986. There, he has continued to pursue his artistic career with further training in the making of original color etchings, as well as painting. He has benefited from the presence of other young American artists who also live in the Kyoto region. Joel often joins Daniel Kelly or Brian Williams in painting expeditions, where each attempts to look at various scenes in a different fashion.

An exciting artist, Joel strives to create images that combine the effects of light and shadow, permitting the viewer to experience a sense of depth and movement in his prints. His work has included landscapes and fish kites, as well as still life scenes of ceramic pots. He has also had particular success in creating closeups of flower blossoms. Different printmaking processes allow Joel to represent subtle textures that help evoke the special atmosphere he is so adept at portraying.

In 1999 he was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, and was able to spend more time developing his skills in watercolor. From this experience he has created a series of intriguing paintings of Italian marble sculpture.

Selected Exhibitions:
Tacoma Art Museum--award winner
Denver Colorado
Kyoto, Japan
Art Institute of Chicago
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
International Fine Print Fair, New York City
Ketchum, Idaho
CWAJ Print Show, Tokyo
Cleveland, Ohio
Osaka Modern Art Center, Japan
Bellevue Art Museum--award winner
Seattle, Washington
Tokyo, Japan
The Ren Brown Collection, Bodega Bay

Collections:
Portland Art Museum, Oregon
Morgan Stanley, Tokyo
Oberlin College, Ohio
Cleveland Museum of Art