Photo courtesy of Laurie Tennent
Stewart & Stewart is a printer and publisher of fine art prints, specializing in screenprinting and archival pigment printing. Since 1980, Norman Stewart, artist/masterprinter, and his partner, Susan Stewart, a graphic designer, have invited artists to create fine print editions in their studio in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Stewart & Stewart prints are noted for a painterly approach to screenprinting; the skillful use of vibrant, transparent inks; and comprehensive print documentation. Stewart & Stewart involves the artist in every creative step of the printing process, transforming the image as it develops. Resulting original editions retain each artist's unique style and painterly "hand."
In 2005, “The Art of Screenprint,” an exhibition at The Detroit Institute of Arts, celebrated Stewart & Stewart’s 25th anniversary. The accompanying catalogue, Collaboration in Print, Stewart & Stewart Screenprints 25th Anniversary, was published in 2005. The exhibition was featured in “In the Frame: Exploring the DIA,” a weekly 30-minute program hosted by DIA Director Graham Beal, and was broadcast on PBS - WTVS television throughout the spring of 2006.
In 1991, "Collaboration in Print -- Stewart & Stewart Prints: 1980-1990," a national touring exhibition debuted at The Detroit Institute of Arts. The exhibition and accompanying catalog documented the first decade of work by the partnership and initiated its acceptance into the prestigious International Fine Print Dealers Association.
Stewart & Stewart editions are purchased and collected by a worldwide list of museums, galleries, art consultants, corporations and private individuals. Along with screenprinting, the firm has published fine editions in cliché-verre, intaglio and lithography, and maintains a select inventory of additional work consigned from published artists.
The print shop and artist's residence are in the historical country setting of what originally was the gardeners' quarters of the Book Family summer estate, built in 1923 and once owned by Edsel Ford. Its living quarters enable visiting artists to work intensively on a printmaking project as well as relax at nearby Wing Lake.
In 2021 the Detroit Institute of Arts purchased the Stewart & Stewart Print Archive including one impression from every fine art print edition and monoprint series Stewart & Stewart has printed and published since 1980. This was the first acquisition of its kind in the DIA’s 138 year history.
