Stewart is a mixed-media studio and public artist whose work ranges from fiber arts to three-dimensional constructs, installations and sculpture. His work is influenced by his curiosity of the built and natural environment and the structure and mechanics of those environments. The work he produces is reflective of his knowledge and experience melding craft with technology. He composes variety of materials, applications and techniques - adding layers of purpose, meaning and intrigue.

On February 7, 1886, violence breaks out in Seattle as a mob starts to forcibly expel most of the city's Chinese population. The next day one man dies and four are injured when they attack Home Guards protecting Chinese residents. Martial law is declared and will last for two weeks. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) will order United States troops to Seattle, where they will remain until summer. Though most of Seattle will rebound quickly from the crisis, it will take the city's Chinese community 20 years to recover. Changing Sentiments Seattle's earliest Chinese residents are believed to have arrived in the early 1860s, but they didn't begin moving to the new city in significant numbers until the mid-1870s. At first, they were welcomed. The Chinese built railroads, graded streets, worked in logging camps and coal mines, and some worked as servants. By 1885, there were an estimated 950 Chinese in Seattle -- roughly 10 percent of the city's population. But sentiment turned against the Chinese as America struggled with hard economic times in the 1870s and again in the mid-1880s. Caucasian workers, including many immigrants, came to view the Chinese as threats to the few available jobs. The Chinese were said to be "willing" to work for lower wages, though in fact they had no choice in the matter. The passage of the national Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 suspended for 10 years nearly all Chinese immigration into the country. By the mid-1880s, there was widespread anti-Chinese sentiment directed toward those still here, especially in the West. It was echoed in Seattle, where even the city's "better elements," led by Judge Thomas Burke (1849-1925) and Mayor Henry Yesler (1810-1892), agreed that the Chinese had to go. They advocated that the expulsion of the Chinese be accomplished by orderly and legal means, but not everyone agreed.