I recently posted a photograph of an owl stencil – see above – by an artist called Stewy as part of the mother.wife.me Urban Beauty Series (she says grandly!). Imagine my delight when Stewy got in touch to say thank you and to offer the Tinkerous Toddler a print of the owl stencil. Given his kind offer, I suggested we meet up so I could find out a little more about this East London based artist.
I hadn’t known quite what to expect when I met Stewy. Thanks to the ubiquitous Banksy, street artists have a certain mystique surrounding them. They are like the Robin Hoods of the art world, bringing art to the everyday people. Turns out Stewy is a stay-at-home-dad for part of the week, looking after his two young daughters. Well that revelation put me at my ease straight away!
My ears pricked up when he confided that he’s become a lot more prolific with his art since having and looking after children. I can totally empathise with this sentiment; it is amazing how fitting in life around your kids causes you to really focus.
Art-school graduate Stewy added street art to his repertoire in 2007. His first piece was a pigeon. How very London! He is now on a mission to complete his A-Z of British Indigenous Animals series. This is alongside his British Cult Icons series. Spot a common theme? Me too.
Stewy’s inspiration is British identity. He is quick to point out, “my take on British identity is a world away from that of the far right. It is simply about honouring that which is British, be it the animals or icons of our society who roam and have roamed this land”. Less far right, more right on!
He is currently finishing work on a stencil of Tracey Emin, which will reside in Margate, where Emin was brought up. This tidbit of information brings me onto something else that is captivating about Stewy’s British Icon work; all his pieces end up in a place that is connected with where the icon worked, lived or died.
Stewy explains, “this added layer ties together three of my main interests that have been with me since my school days – art, geography and history.”
He recently used these combined interests to educate others about one particular British icon – the British playwright and author, Joe Orton. Stewy created ten portraits of Orton on cardboard and left them at locations in and around Islington associated with Orton. He then tweeted out clues to his Twitter followers as to where to find them. The nice end to the story is that Joe Orton’s sister found the last portrait.
So there you have it. A brief introduction to the wonderful world of Stewy, one of the street artists ensuring there is always beauty in the urban landscape of East London.
Check out more of his work on his website – Stewy and follow him on Twitter @stewystencils – you never know when he might do another Twitter treasure hunt!
mother.wife.me 