May 2021

Darius Steward

Our May demo of a vibrant and engaging portrait was presented by Ohio artist Darius Steward who is known for his figurative work and for his public outreach through murals. Darius finds inspiration in painting portraits of his children and portrays them in such a way that the viewer is invited to connect emotionally with the subject. Darius says, “I paint with watercolor on Yupo or Twinrocker paper to achieve stark whiteness against my saturated subjects. I often use my subject metaphorically to address what is going on culturally. Each and every person I paint is a stand-in for myself or for the community. I use watercolor portraiture and my large murals to bring a voice to social injustices which are going on in the world.”

Darius’s demo may be found on the NSWS YouTube channel at the following link: https://youtu.be/oh0bwMNvDJo

The demo link can also be found on our NSWS website and Facebook page.

You can visit Darius’s website at https://dariussteward.com/

Two of his Cleveland murals can be seen at https://www.cleveland.com/arts/2018/05/darius_steward_murals_over_inn.html

https://www.summahealth.org/art/steward