DS Art INTERVIEW

You turn off a wide street in south Charlotte, NC, into a small colonial looking office complex, the professional digs of dentist and orthodontists, therapists and CPA's. Park next to a cozy row of red brick buildings, each labeled conservatively with a shingle out front. This shingle is the artist's only lingering connection to a past life - once it might have read: Donald B. Stewart, General Surgeon. Today it says simply, DS Art.

Come on in. Sunlight pours through a profusion of greenery: vines, violets, orange trees grown from seed, and a seasonal variety of sprouts for the garden - Stewart's other passion. The only other source of color in this black and white artist's shared studio is the work of Don's wife, Sue Ellen Brown, whose paintings in acrylic, oil, and colored pencil light up the otherwise stark surroundings.

Here white desks and drawing boards nudge tall black bookshelves crammed with volumes of reference material. Humorous themes in word and image fill the walls from floor to ceiling, Stewart's own drawings mixed with small framed quotations: 'If at first you do succeed, try not to act too surprised.' 'Beer Then, Done That.' 'Before a person does something truly great, they must look foolish to the crowd.' The stock room is labeled with a picture of the trading floor on Wall Street; the restroom marked by a portrait of W.C. Fields (WC for water closet). Even the thermostat is framed, decorated with a tiny Dr. Seuss cartoon.

Dr. Stewart, clean-shaven in wire-rimmed glasses, wears a button-down shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, looking more the part of a nineties dot com entrepreneur than the stereotypical artist. He sits comfortably, elbow resting on an older model typewriter (only recently replaced by a PC), and responds to a question regarding the future of hand made art in an increasingly electronic world:

"With art - with creativity in general for that matter - it really makes little difference what medium you choose. You get an idea, you want to get it out there, whether you use a pencil, a brush, a computer or a camp stove. We're decidedly lo-tech around here. Cut and paste still means scissors and glue. It may not be glamorous, but for me drawing is simpler, more direct. Head to hand to paper."

Simple does not describe the artist's work, however. Stewart's composite drawings are elaborately planned and carefully executed, often taking months to complete. Dozens of related items pile one on top of the other to create each larger composition. Some follow a simple theme: flowers for the Hummingbird, antiques for an old locomotive. Other drawings are visual puns, the cornerstone of Stewart's art. His Dragonfly is made of dragons - twenty of them. Trombones is a lesson in skeletal anatomy. Fast Food, an edible motorcycle.

"Sometimes they get a little out of hand," Stewart says. He points to the Golf Bag, his most popular piece, and several others, including Ship Shape, and Deer Diary. Each is made up almost entirely of puns. "If they get too complicated, they come with a list of ingredients." For some pictures, the list is absolutely essential. Golf Bag includes a badminton birdie, a mouse trap, and a quarter of a deck of playing cards - all clubs. The remarkable thing is that the final composite image looks like nothing so much as a fully outfitted, well, golf bag.

Paradoxically, the technical success of the designs can sometimes be a disadvantage.

"I often have a hard time getting people to stop and look," says the artist. "At shows, folks will glance at the pictures, and their brain says 'Oh. A bird. A fish.' Then they move on. I try to get them to look again, to find the humor." A second look usually brings a smile, then the questions:

You do these with just a pen? That pen? Are you crazy? Yes. To all three.

Why a pen? I've had a ballpoint pen in my hand since high school. The classes I took required a lot of note taking, and the pen became second nature. Later when I started drawing, I saw no reason to change.

When did you start drawing? Sometime in my premed training I got bored. Bored with lectures and lab work. I needed a change. So I signed up for a basic drawing course.

This was in college? Yes. At Birmingham-Southern. I thought the course would be an easy A.

Was it? Hardly. The class was taught by the head of the Art department, a tough old guy from New York. He told us we had two weeks to drop the course, or get a C on our transcript. This was a real threat to us pre-meds and pre-dents. We counted on a four point average.

So, did you quit? No. It was too much fun. And I learned a lot. Over the course of the semester, the professor, MacMahon was his name, pulled me aside and said I should think about art as a career. He encouraged me to take more courses.

Did you? Yes. Three in all, the basics: drawing, painting, and design.

Your drawings are all black and white. Why no color? The medium. Ballpoint pens represent a rather limited palette, and most colored inks fade over time. For that matter, most black ballpoint ink will fade. I have to be careful which pens I use.

What pens do you use? Papermate.

That's it? Yes. They're good pens. They feel good in my hand. The ink flows smoothly without piling up, and it lasts.

The ink doesn't fade? Right. I have pictures that are twenty years old that still look great. Some others that were drawn with different pens are nearly gone.

Do you ever use a computer? I get asked that all the time - it's quite flattering. I certainly don't use one to draw, don't have the software or the training - or any desire to learn. Recently I have started using the web to research ideas. It's a great resource, but only if you know where to look. The VW home page, for instance, is a lousy place to find images of vintage beetles.

What is your favorite piece? Don't have one. They're like your kids, you know? You love them all, for different reasons. Some pictures work better artistically than others. Some are more successful at capturing my original idea, or at conveying the humor that's intended. Some, you're just glad they're done.

You used to practice medicine? Not really. I used to study medicine. I never practiced on my own.

Medicine to art, it seems like such a major change. What happened? I wanted to be a doctor when I was five years old. That never changed. I loved science, and always enjoyed doing things that made people feel better. In medical school, the notion of actually getting in and fixing the problem was especially appealing. That turned my attention toward surgery.

Working with your hands? Yes.

So why did you quit? I met very few surgeons who were having any fun. That may sound simplistic, but at the time it was an important observation. I trained with a lot of really great people; by the end of residency most of the joy and spontaneity had been beaten out of them. It wasn't very long before I knew that this was not for me. So I finished my intern year, got my license, and said goodbye.

Have you ever regretted it? Not yet.

And now you're having fun. Oh, yes. The best part is, I get to share the fun with so many others, through the pictures.