Stu’s artwork is built on a foundation of academic training in studio art, design, and illustration. He studied studio art at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD. His interest brought him to Minneapolis College of Art & Design where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. During his senior year at MCAD, he developed a reputation for his linoleum-cut prints. His realistic and expressionistic oil paintings, linocut prints, and monoprints have been exhibited in many galleries, public spaces, and are a part of many private collections.
Besides being a studio artist, Stu is also a practicing illustrator. He has done extensive professional work with linocut prints, digital tools and mixed media. His illustrations have been published in the U.S. and internationally. Stu has studied under renowned illustrators such as Murray Tinkelman, Garry Kelley, and C.F. Payne, and received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from The Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, CT. Stu's illustrations are shown at www.stuillustration.com.
Stu believes that art should capture both physical and spiritual attributes in the subjects being portrayed, which reveals, to a certain degree, the soul and spirit of the artist who created it. He desires to produce work that captures both darkness and light, resonates with reality, and reflects emotional balance, while at the same time, clearly communicating his ideas, thoughts, and feelings to the viewer.
Besides being a practicing artist, Stu has been an educator passing on his artistic knowledge and skills to students of diverse age groups. He has taught design and digital art at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. Before relocating to North Carolina, he taught drawing, painting, illustration, and design at various art centers in Minneapolis. Stu also developed, launched, and was the instructor for the Certificate in Illustration program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College from 2012 to 2014. Stu lives in Raleigh with his wife and their two children.