She painted a mural for the entrance of Albuquerque's Little Theatre depicting a clash between Christians and Moors portrayed in New Mexican folk plays.
[2] She acquired a type and printing press from a defunct Spanish language newspaper in Espanola in 1948, and this is when Dorothy started producing vibrant multicolored illustrated books.
She built a studio east of El Zaguán where the artist hosted concerts, lectures, shadow puppet plays, and exhibitions representing her wide range of interest.
(Smith, 96) El Zaguán still retains an artist residency program with exhibits under the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.
In the winter of 1955, with a grave medical condition, Stewart was accompanied by her dear friend Maria Chabot to Oaxaca, Mexico where Dorothy was quoted as saying, “If I have to be sick, I would rather be sick here where I hear the street sounds of Mexico.”[citation needed] As Dorothy's condition worsened, Chabot moved her to the American British Cowdry Hospital in Mexico City, where Stewart died of a brain hemorrhage on December 24, 1955.