Working in oils or acrylic, as well as other mediums – including sculpture for many years – her re-occurring themes are nature/landscapes, women, birds and abstraction. Jungian symbolism is often featured in her paintings. “The Journey Home” series features landscapes and lone boats, and is based on ancient Asian poetry. One on-going series of landscapes is called “Esto Perpetua”: Latin for “It is forever”… symbolic of the artist’s view of nature’s sacredness and fortitude. Part of the proceeds from the “Esto Perpetua” series is donated to the Saluda Community Land Trust (SCLT), which is a non-profit organization. She also received a Regional Artist Grant toward the “Esto Perpetua” series in 2010, and another RAPG grant in 2012-13.

“Art, like writing and poetry,” Bardos said. “For me it is an expression of the soul… the deepest self, where time and place do not matter. I am on a higher plane when creating. There is intense spirit and energy in my hands. Often I do not know where I will take my creation. I am influenced by color, by thought, by the natural world around us, and see nature as intensely spiritual and symbolic. Always, I endeavor in my work to speak the unknown, to convey the unseen. My work is based on intuition, and what feeling I am attuned to at the moment. I feel the world intensely, both the ‘outer’ world, and most of all, the natural world: which is deeply connected to my inner world.”

– article submitted by Steve Wong