Carolyn Steward’s Paintings

At Gifford Med. Ctr. Gallery

Oil paintings by Randolph Center artist Carolyn Steward will be on display at the Gifford Art Gallery at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph, through March 26.

Steward paints landscapes and still lifes that appear impressionistic. Born into a family of artists, she has spent a lifetime developing her personal style.

Steward’s mother did watercolor portraits and sceneries, and for many years worked for a New York City company painting porcelain plates. Steward’s father trained as a sculptor in Belgium prior to World War II and went on to work as the chief sculptor for Ben Cooper, Disney and Mattel. Most notably, he made the first molds for the Barbie doll line that are still in use today.

With two artists as parents, Steward’s interest in art began in childhood, and carried into adulthood. She spent a year at the Fashion Institute of Technology, was an illustrator in the military and earned her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Goddard College.

Influenced by her father, Steward’s first works were of "life studies."

"I worked continually from life making self-portraits, sculptures, drawing objects and other people," she says.

In 1986, her style changed when she became interested in the beauty of icons. She was introduced to a leading iconographer and taught the "correct" way to write an icon, she says. Applying egg tempera and following the church dogma, Steward mastered the medium quickly, but four years later found herself sickened by the smell of oil paint and turned to acrylics.

"Too sick to work from life, I allowed myself for the first time to work from my imagination," Steward says. "I felt I had to express ideas."

Her works started out primitive after years of creating flat icons, but eventually Steward’s health improved. She returned to oils, moved outside (en plein air, as the French say) into nature, studied impressionism and, she says, "my ability to spontaneously record in paint emerged."

Steward occasionally does shows, takes on private students and teaches at the White River Craft Center in Randolph. In 2006, her work was recognized by, and has since been used by, large publisher Applejack Art Partners. You can view Steward’s works at www.applejackart.com (choose "licensing group" and then do an artist search for Steward).

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