Stewart was born in Scotland in 1949. He arrived in Australia with his parents and two siblings in 1956, settling in Kwinana. His early education focussed on science based subjects and he subsequently worked in an oil industry laboratory. During this time he spent time in the army reserve and studied ceramics at FremantleTAFE eventually abandoning the laboratory for a full time ceramics career in the early eighties. He initially established his studio in Kwinana and later in serpentine where he built the first of his large wood fired kilns.
Stewart has taught as a sessional lecturer for TAFE, Edith Cowan and Curtin Universities, delivered workshops across WA and offshore and since the early eighties been a tutor at Fremantle Arts Centre.
Stewarts current studio is in palmyra with his woodfired kiln on a property that he and his wife Trish own at York. Environmental concerns drive much of Stewarts practice and he and Trish grow the wood used in the kiln from seedlings. The clay used is blended using local clays so that the work is very much of the place.
Stewart has exhibited regularly within WA, interstate and overseas. His work is contained in private and institutional collections across Australia and overseas.