Jacinta Stewart

Jacinta Stewart2022-08-18T10:37:33+10:00

New York based artist, advocate for endangered birds, and homeless shelters for women.


Including extracts from Indulge Magazine covering her 2018 exhibition in Brisbane.

Jacinta is an outstanding Artist who has been making waves in Manhattan, New York since she arrived there in 2003. Not only has she held many exhibitions throughout New York including at the Australian Consulate, her paintings are part of private collections throughout Australia, England, Malaysia and the USA.

Jacinta specialises in acrylic paint medium and only uses museum grade materials. She also does many private commissions. 15% of all her sales are donated to The Dwelling Place, a shelter for homeless women in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen, NYC.

In 2018 she brought her art created in her New York City studio to Percolator Gallery Brisbane, for a month long exhibit from 31 July to 26 August.

Shining the spotlight on Endangered Birds

Stewart’s exhibit On the Brink featured acrylic paintings of Australian birds and earthscapes inspired by her home nation. “While I was preparing for my current New York exhibit, which features American birds threatened by climate change, I couldn’t stop thinking about the birds of my homeland,” Stewart said. “As I created paintings for my show, I was inspired to do the same for the birds I grew up listening to each morning in Australia.”

Stewart is one of 68 international artists, including three other Australians, who were selected to paint large-scale bird murals on buildings in New York City to highlight the threatened state of many bird species. This follows the Audubon Society’s September 2014, release of its Birds and Climate Change Report. The comprehensive study compiles decades of observations from thousands of birdwatchers along with detailed climate data models to estimate the current and future habitats of 588 bird species throughout the United States and Canada. Of the 588-bird species studied, a total of 314 are threatened and 126 of the species are classified as “climate endangered.”

“When I heard about the mural project as a resource to inform the public about the dismal findings of the report, I just couldn’t stand by and do nothing,” Stewart said. “I immediately reached out to the project sponsors and submitted sketches of endangered baby birds feeding with their parents which I thought would work perfectly on the external wall of a pediatrician’s office just steps away from my apartment.

“While I was doing research for the mural project and for the birds I painted for my current show, I learned about the organization, Birdlife Australia,” Stewart said. “Working on my computer late one night I discovered Birdlife Australia had compiled a list of threatened Australian bird species. I decided the next morning to start painting some of the birds on their list. With my first brushstroke I decided I wanted to bring the paintings home to Australia.”

BirdLife Australia is Australia’s largest bird conservation organisation. As an independent, not-for-profit organisation that has been a voice for Australia’s birdlife for well over a century, protecting birds and their habitats through robust programs and informed advocacy.

The charity that Jacinta supports in New York, The Dwelling Place, is a sponsored ministry of The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, NY, and is a privately-funded transitional residence for homeless women located in Midtown Manhattan, operating since 1977.


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