Como painter will document the state with the help of arts board grant
Brian Stewart
Thanks to a $10,000 Minnesota State Arts Board grant, Como resident Brian Stewart will canvass the state this year to create a group of plein-air paintings that illustrate the state’s geographic, ethnic, seasonal and aesthetic diversity.
Stewart plans to set up his easel in areas near the Canadian border and the mining regions of the north, the prairies in the west, and the bluff country and borderland areas in the south to capture bits of Minnesota that go beyond the iconic.
He already began the body of work in subzero temperatures in Duluth earlier this year.
The end result of a year of on-location painting will be a show that he hopes will be displayed in a public venue rather than a private art gallery. This is Stewart’s first time applying for a Minnesota State Arts Board grant.
“It’s a nice opportunity and I feel real grateful that here in Minnesota we have things like the Minnesota State Arts Board grants,” he said.
A native of California, Stewart has lived in Minnesota for 30 years, the last four on the east end of Lake Como. He worked in advertising for 25 years before becoming a painter. His agency, Kauffman-Stewart, had regional clients that included Arctic Cat Snowmobiles and Dayton-Hudson Corp. You can see Stewart’s work at www.stew-art.com.
