This Review ran in the Austin American-Statesman on May 23, 2002
By Kathy Blackwell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
May 23, 2002
Portrait of an Artisan, Lou Ann Bardash
Dressing screen designer, painter
512-447-9676
American-Statesman: What inspired you to build and paint dressing screens?
Lou Ann Bardash: It's funny because I'm not a fashion plate, but I love fashion. I thought the dressing screens were very romantic. My husband, Tom Ovans, is a musician, and a few years ago we found a dilapidated screen while we were living in Nashville. Tom came up with his own design from there and now builds them, although I worked with recycled material for a while that I would find on walks with my dog. The screens are a way to create art that's functional. When I moved to Austin I started hanging up my paintings in restaurants like Magnolia Cafe. Then the economy went down and so did the whole buying-pictures-off-restaurant-walls thing. I looked at the screens as a way to actually start a business.
All of the screens on your Web site have paintings of women. Why is that?
It didn't begin as a conscious thing. I actually went to college for (choral) music, and they're the same, music and art. I've been seriously painting for 10 years, and I still feel like I'm studying. I started with portraits, and then evolved into painting the whole body, and now I'm more into painting women sitting in chairs, basically just doing something. It's fun to work with images of women and comes real easy to me.
Are your screens intended for practical or decorative purposes?
It's a combination of both. For some people, it's about a piece of furniture. For others, it's strictly art. A lot of people look at my screens and say an image looks like themselves or someone else they know, and then they have to have it.
You also customize screens for people. Has anyone ever wanted you to paint his or her portrait on the screen?
Yes, some have. But I'm not a copyist. You can give a snapshot to me, but don't expect the exact image on the screen. I have my own style, so my screens are inspired by the photos, but they're not exact replicas.
How do you feel about customizing — do you prefer it to doing designs of your own choosing?
I love customizing. I just did my biggest project yet — a 7-foot, four-panel screen for the lobby of a law firm in Houston. Typically my screens are either 5 feet with three panels or 6 feet with four panels. They gave me snapshots of the lobby and said they wanted it done in teal and beige, which aren't normally colors I use. That's why I love doing the custom-made screens; it expands my palette. Right now my business is half customizing, half my own designs.
What other themes besides women would you like to explore on your screens?
Well, I've done some screens with animals. I try as a painter to keep expanding and raising the bar. I'd like to do some landscapes.
How has your and your husband's musical background helped your art? And what instruments do you play?
I do my own music, but I do play guitar and piano during my husband's concerts. He's putting out his eighth CD in Europe this spring — we've had our own record label (NSR Sound Recordings) since '91 — and I play with him when he tours over there. We've really used our music marketing experience to help expand, basically just trying to get the word out.
I'm sure you listen to music while you paint. Where do you do your work?
We live in a duplex in South Austin, so that's where I work. Our place basically looks like a warehouse with my painting on one side and Tom's music on the the other. Tom does the carpentry out in the carport. I always play music. Sometimes it's more rockin', and sometimes I'll listen to jazz. Cassandra Wilson is a favorite of mine. I was a musician first, so there's always music in our house.
Copyright (c) 2002 Austin American-Statesman