25 Stars in My Designer Sky
Susan Dunis and Bettie Ward, 7th in a series
Artists either add the jewelry to an interior or they actually set the stage. I have had projects in the past 25 years that did both. If I had to say which single element in any given space would separate it from another, it would be the quality and the uniqueness of the artwork.
In my early years as an interior designer, I met two amazingly talented local, San Antonio women artists. Susan Dunis whose canvas is uniquely glazed tile; and Bettie Ward, who works in color, on whatever medium apparently.
The possibility of using one of these talents to add sass to my interiors meant all difference for me. If my client would consent to Susan’s tile design for her kitchen backsplash or the water line of her pool, I knew we were going to do something unique and special. I loved Susan as a person, and I adored her creative sketches of hummingbirds and horses translated into three dimensional tiles. She was a pioneer in the tile industry, and I often wonder why there has not been more interest taken in her for this reason alone she is a San Antonio treasure.

I loved her tiles so much, when I built my Sunset office, I used all of the control samples from projects we had done together for the break room back splash. It helped remind me to be creative and to think in color, line, form and texture, no matter how dull the project requirements were.And, so many were dull –back then.

With Bettie, her grand paintings in their baroque frames, in my interiors were nothing but a guarantee for the unexpected. I knew, even back then, they would never grow tired or common-all great colorists live on forever!

It became almost an inevitable token of an interior done by me:a Bettie Ward over the fireplace….so much so, I eventually, in my goal not to become a signature designer, had to refrain from introducing clients to Bettie’s work.

As with Susan’s tiles, I have my 2 Bettie Ward’s-but, at home, where I never grow weary of looking at them. They are like Susan and Bettie to me; old friends who remind me of years past with great memories and gratitude for the paths we crossed together, and the imagined spaces we helped bring into people’s lives –all more robust and abundant with personal style and artistic embraces because these artists cared enough to work with a designer just getting her feet wet in South Texas.
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