About Me

I am JANET STEWART

I was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a 1950’s baby boomer. And, raised in New York State, just 90 miles northwest of NYC, I have been a proud resident of west Harlem aka Hamilton Heights for more than 40 years.

My early years, and many subsequent summers, were spent in Mount Joy, PA, a small community in the heart of the Amish and Mennonite country of Pennsylvania. There I was brought up on apple dumplings, shoofly pie, and stories of that young boy, my grandfather, who had fled the South and made his way up north to settle in Mount Joy in the early 1900s. However, my mother’s family has been a part of that Pennsylvania community ever since the 1700s.

Since my father was a minister, the family moved from parish to parish throughout the 1950’s. It was the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, and racism was systematic in America during that time. While there were racial changes in my environment going on, what remained consistent was the sense of community that formed around the African-American churches.

Creating art came to me as a gift. From a very young age I was always receiving recognition for my creations. My work always was and still is about ordinary people and things. Grounded in ethnic pride, my works reflect the diversity of the African American community.

Creating art was always an intentional conscious action on my part.

My parents, especially my mother, was tuned into my artist abilities, so consequently, I was given paper and pencils to draw with during my father’s services. Those early drawings of the people surrounding me were the seeds of my work. Some of the parishioners still possess my early art work and some have gone so far as to pass my creations on to others as an inheritance.

My drawings are both personal and iconic. My dramatic use of black and white transforms simple images of everyday life into statements about the nature of life.

My colors of preference are black and white and color opposites and contrast. By juxtaposing these colors, or by using just black and white, I try to achieve a surface whose essence is simplicity and tranquility beyond which are camouflaged emotions.