Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
How Birmingham artist + former law partner Carol Stewart found new purpose through native plant art
Reading time: 5 minutes
You never know what you’ll find behind someone’s attic door. But in one Birmingham home nestled in a quiet neighborhood, you’ll discover something unexpected—a preserved native garden.
Inside, sunlight filters through pressed leaves and framed wildflowers, revealing the creative world of Carol Stewart, an 80-year-old retired law partner whose botanical hobby now supports nonprofits across Birmingham and beyond.
Here’s a look at how her career, life experiences and love of native plants came together to create thousands of pressed floral artworks, and how you can see them yourself.
Birmingham native plant artist: Carol Stewart’s early life in North Carolina
Carol’s story doesn’t begin in Birmingham, but in rural North Carolina. One of five children, she grew up in the countryside between the small towns of Mooresville and Davidson.
In a household where independence and hard work were part of daily life, she learned early on the value of earning her own way.
While in high school, Carol had her sights set on the future. Determined to pay for college, she waitressed at a five-and-dime lunch counter and drove a school bus, where she saved every dollar she earned.
Her hard work paid off when she was able to enroll at UNC-Charlotte. There, she earned a chemistry degree in just over three years while balancing multiple jobs, including work as a waitress, lifeguard and chemistry lab assistant.
After graduation, she entered the world of forensic science, working in labs across the Southeast—from Charlotte to Atlanta to Mobile—before eventually making her way to Alabama.
How Carol built a legal career in Birmingham
While working in science and pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Carol found herself drawn toward an entirely new career path.
As she was balancing work and graduate studies, she began considering what that future might look like. Encouraged by a professor, she took the LSAT—a decision that opened the door to law school and a decades-long legal career in Birmingham.
“I loved law school and the concept of solving other peoples’ problems.”
Carol Stewart
That decision led her to Cumberland School of Law, where she immersed herself in moot court (hypothetical practice sessions), legal writing and clerkships with both private firms and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After graduation, she clerked for a federal judge before joining Burr & Forman, where she spent 29 years practicing law in Birmingham, becoming an equity partner and working on complex litigation cases.
“I was very fortunate to come along at a time when women were making inroads into male-dominated professions. So many women had paid the price for me only a few years before. To show their willingness and eagerness to accept women into the legal profession, my partners at Burr & Forman included me in complex litigation cases and other legal matters.”
Carol Stewart
From Birmingham law partner to pressed flower artist
Delicate native blooms are flattened and dried as part of Carol Stewart’s preservation process. (Bham Now)
Carol retired from Burr & Forman in 2012 after five years of living with Parkinson’s disease. But stepping away from law didn’t mean stepping away from purpose. In her newfound time, she began collecting native plants from her Birmingham yard and travels, pressing them carefully and transforming them into framed botanical art.
What began as a quiet retirement hobby in Birmingham quickly grew into a much larger body of work—thousands of pressed floral pieces made from native plants, each one carefully preserved and framed.
“I distinctly remember my grandmother having a pressed rose in her Bible that represented something special to her.”
Carol Stewart
That memory stayed with her and became the quiet inspiration behind her work.
Carol’s attic—and much of her home—now holds a growing collection of framed works that showcase Alabama’s natural beauty through her pressed flower art.
Birmingham nonprofit support through native plant art
What begins in nature ends in community—Stewart’s artwork supports nonprofit efforts throughout the region. (Bham Now)
Today, Carol doesn’t sell her work. Instead, she donates pieces to nonprofit fundraisers and community organizations across Birmingham and the state, where her botanical art helps raise support for meaningful causes.
Over the years, her work has appeared in fundraisers benefiting:
- Parkinson Association of Alabama
- The Bascom
- Highlands Biological Foundation
- Wetumpka Wildlife Arts Festival
- Local humane societies
- Scholarship Fund for the Highlands Country Club
- + more
“It brings me joy and peace to be productive at this stage of my Parkinson’s journey by sharing my love for plants and God’s love for us with others.”
If you’re interested in Carol’s artwork, you’ll find it at nonprofit fundraisers and community events around Birmingham and beyond, where her pressed native plant pieces quietly support local causes through the beauty of nature preserved.
Do you have a unique hobby we should know about? Let us know! Email our team at hello@bhamnow.com.
