Steve Williams: Stewart Scholar, Artist, and creator of Stamps

The painting of George R. Stewart’s books and the Hammer of Ish that heads this weblog is the work of Steve Williams.  Steve grew up in Liverpool, went to art school there (with Lennon and McCartney), married Carol, found a good job, and raised a family.  He discovered George R. Stewart along the way, becoming quite a Stewart scholar.

I met Steve when he traveled to Berkeley to research the Stewart papers at the Bancroft Library.  Later, when I went to Britain, Steve, Carol and family hosted me on a tour of Beatles sites in Liverpool and Castles in Wales.

Steve retired several years ago.  Returning to his first love, he began teaching art and  painting.  You can see his work and watch a video of him discussing his art here:  http://community.saa.co.uk/art/stevewilliamsart

He paints a wide variety of subjects:  Lancaster bombers heading out on a raid, a ferry crossing the Mersey River, landscapes of this and other worlds.  One subject he’s focused on recently is Bletchley Park, where British intelligence successfully broke the German codes in World War II.  He’s donated several paintings to the site, which were sold to raise money to support its restoration and operation as a museum and education center. Here’s a site which showcases the Bletchley paintings.

One of Steve’s Bletchley Park paintings is of Alan Turing.  Turing played a major role in the code breaking, a role now showcased in The Imitation Game, when he refined the Polish Bombe Machine.  With the growing interest in Turing, and Bletchley Park, Steve was asked to donate several paintings to be used on stamps honoring  the role played by place and person.  The stamps were released recently:  Here’s the order form.

In a special Centennial Stamp set, Steve’s paintings of the Bombe machine, Turing’s Cottage, and a reunion of Bletchley Park workers  is paired with a painting of Turing by another artist.:

The “Fellowship” of George R. Stewart is populated by people like Steve – creative people inspired by the remarkable ideas and books of Stewart, who express that inspiration in  personal acts of creativity:  Composer Philip Aaberg, NASA-JPL Ranger Mission Project Manager James D. Burke, Walt Disney, Jimi Hendrix, Stephen King, and many more.

The Hammer of Ish

Stewart Scholar Steve William’s fine painting of Stewart’s most important literary symbol. In an interesting side note, Steve went to the Liverpool Art Institute with Lennon and McCartney.

Click on the copyrighted image to go to Steve’s site.

Link

This is English artist Stephen Williams’ painting which is used (thanks to Steve’s gracious courtesy) as the header for this log. The painting includes several of Stewart’s books, and the iconic Hammer of Ish from Earth Abides.

To see more of Steve’s work, click on this link:

http://www.thegalleryliverpool.co.uk/artists/steve-williams/steve-williams.html

About the Header Painting

The painting used as the header for the blog is the work of gifted artist Stephen Williams. Steve attended the Liverpool Institute of Art (with John Lennon and Paul McCartney), took a detour from his art so he could raise his family. Now retired, Steve has returned to his art with great success — he’s done work for Bletchley Park, won an award for his work, and is now the Regional Coordinator for the Society for All Artists.

Steve is also a Stewart scholar; we’ve worked together on Stewart projects for decades. He lives in England, with his wife and family.

Due to size limitations on the header it’s not possible to show Steve’s painting in its entirety. So as soon as I’ve got WordPress figured out I’ll display the entire painting.

Enjoy the pre-Christmas week, and the end of a special year — the Year of Palindromes.