Southern Fall/Winter 2022

left medicine for good, and established his own
design firm, DS Art Studio in Birmingham in
2001. He has since created commissioned
works for UAB Hospital, the National Museum
of the Marine Corps in Washington D.C., the
Wounded Warrior Regiment, Navy Seals,
and Coast Guard, among others. Many of his
drawings were created to raise awareness and
funds for education, medical research, and
ongoing medical support for service members
and their families. His work has helped raise
more than $75,000 for Wounded Warriors in
all branches of the military.
Stewart says that during his surgery
internship, he often returned to drawing as
a means of therapy and relaxation. Once,
a nurse asked him, “Dr. Stewart, when’s the
last time you were happy?” He says that he
was immediately transported back to the
Birmingham-Southern art department.
“The final assignment I had in Bob Shelton’s
drawing class at Birmingham-Southern
was to draw a big picture made out of little
pictures,” says Stewart. “I found a picture of
Pablo Picasso, and there was all this random
stuff lying around in that art studio, including
a great big wine snifter. I turned that upside
down and it was the same shape as Pablo
Picasso’s head. And that got me started.”
That pencil design was the prototype for
what is now Stewart’s signature style. “I have
never been more satisfied in my life with the
process of doing something,” he says.
“My training at Birmingham-Southern
allowed me to walk out of the hospital and
become a businessperson,” he continues.
“That’s what liberal-arts training does. It
gives you experience in a broad variety of
thought processes and knowledge bases. It also
forces you to identify yourself as a thinker, a
historian, a philosopher, and an artist. I have
BSC to thank for that.”
Stewart describes some of his work as
“visual puns,” including a motorcycle made out
of images of food (“fast food”), or a wolf out of
knitted items (“wolf in sheep’s clothing”).
“I draw bad jokes,” he says, laughing. “I put
dad jokes on paper. That’s what I do.”
Recently, he has been creating historical works
involving what he calls “deep dives into a history
of a place or an entity or a tradition,” including
pieces for UAB’s Medical Alumni Association,
and branches of the military, where pieces depict
historical events within a larger shape, such as a
war ship, fighter jet, or the Navy Seals emblem.
For UAB, Stewart made an intricate drawing of
the new North Pavilion building, incorporated
out of medical equipment placed in the areas
of the hospital where those specialties would be
practiced. He also created a piece portraying the
former Jefferson Hospital, with the history of
medicine in Alabama drawn into the shape of the
building, incorporating the Creek Indian medical
tradition, all the way up to a depiction of the
rooftop television antenna as a DNA molecule.
Each of these projects involve in-depth
historical research, which can take months.
“I can appreciate the details and the
way it all is stacked up in my mind, because
I learned how to diagnose,” he says. “My
drawings are a series of several hundred
problems to solve. Problems of shape and
content and finding the most meaningful
images that fit the right space in the right way.
It also involves eye-hand coordination, which I
equate to the surgical skill of being able to put
the ink where I want it, where it does the most
use.”
He says his favorite recent project was to
design the Ginkgo Panther for BSC, which
portrays the face of a panther in ginkgo
leaves.
“I think it took all of two weeks to get that
one done — it just crystallized. It speaks
directly to the Hilltop.”
For the Marine Corps, Stewart incorporated
380 historical images, in chronological order,
into a drawing of the famous War Memorial
statue of the marines on Iwo Jima raising the
flag at the top of Mount Suribachi in WWII.
“Another thing I learned at Birmingham-
Southern,” says Stewart, “if I hadn’t already
learned it from my family, was community
service.”
With the help of the executive officer
of the Wounded Warrior Regiment, he
established a means of raising funds through
his artwork for veterans.
“Our wounded veterans have value,”
Stewart says, and this is his way of showing
that to the world.
To view more of Stewart’s art, visit dsart.com.
GinkGO, Panther!© Don Stewart, 2021
One bright and lazy day, Toucan
Alarmed his friend the Panther:
“It’s time to get you up!” he cried,
And waited for an answer.
And waited. Then he tried again
To wake her with his cries,
And shook his branch and sang until
She opened up her eyes.
“You’ve got to go! Get up! Get out!
Go run and chase your prey!”
“I do not want to go,” she said.
Now please, just go away.”
Toucan was having none of this,
And shook the tree limb harder.
“You must be up and catching things,
Replenishing your larder!”
“You really must excuse me,
But I’ve no desire to go.
I’d rather find a sunny spot
To watch the ginkgoes grow.”
“What nonsense,” said the Toucan.
“You are not right in the head!
It’s time to get you up to go.
You should be gone,” he said.
“You should be up and on the prowl,
And hunting, should you not?
You’ve everything a cat should want.
What has a ginkgo got?”
“I love the way they pose themselves,
With leaves like paper fans.
They move with easy elegance:
A breeze can make them dance.”
“I’ve heard enough,” the Toucan sneered.
“I first thought you were lazy.
But now that you’ve explained yourself,
I’m certain you’re just crazy!
“You should be exercised by now,
And panting to a wheeze.
Instead you’re lounging in the shade
Admiring ginkgo trees.
“It’s time to leave those trees behind!
It’s not like they will miss you.
But if you like ginkgoes so much,
Why not just take one with you?”
The cat considered this advice,
Then gave her friend an answer.
(She did not want Toucan to think
Her an ungrateful panther.)
“I truly do appreciate
Your energetic rant.
But ginkgoes do not go,” she said.
“And panthers do not pant.”