Most college students have bunk beds and empty pizza boxes in their apartments. Lucy Stovall had a letterpress.
Growing up in a family with a strong background in print, Stovall learned the art at a very young age. She was well-known at Mississippi State University for her printing work as a student, but her reputation in the Atlanta art community didn’t begin until the mid-2000s.
Yet, even then she was overly humble and never gave her work the credit it deserved, said her husband, Richard Allan Robinson of Atlanta.
“She had incredible artistic gifts, but was very shy about them,” he said. “She was just so modest. She needed someone to step up for her.”
And so Robinson did. Since he was a musician with connections in the art community, Robinson introduced Stovall to other Atlanta artists and gallery owners, and little by little, her reputation began to grow.
Pretty soon she was designing exhibition catalogs for artists such as Ruth Laxson, whose art can be found in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. In 2008, Stovall designed a catalog for Laxson’s exhibition at the Marcia Wood Gallery in Atlanta, where several other artists were impressed with Stovall’s work, her husband said.
“People saw them and artists came to her and said, ‘I want a catalog,’ ” he said. “Then she just got better and better known.”
Lucy Barton Stovall of Atlanta died May 5 at Medlock Gardens Senior Living from complications of brain cancer. She was 54.
Her memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at the Atlanta Soto Zen Center. Wages & Sons Funeral Home and Crematories was in charge of the cremation arrangements.
While Stovall’s degree was in social work, her most recent job was as a digital print manager for BurdgeCooper, where her talent and work ethic were highly valued, said BurdgeCooper customer service representative Marilyn Clark.
“She was a perfectionist,” she said. “If we needed anything and needed it now and needed it done right, Lucy was our girl.”
What helped to grow Stovall’s popularity among Atlanta artists was her ability to capture the essence of the artist’s work, resulting in a beautifully done and perfectly matched catalog, said Atlanta artist Alan Loehle, who worked with Stovall for a catalog of his own.
“I just sat down with Lucy and started telling her what I wanted,” he said. “She listened and somehow translated what I wanted like nobody I’d ever seen. She was incredibly talented.”
According to those who knew her, Stovall’s ability to create such beautiful work was a direct result of her sweet and kind spirit, which her husband said touched countless numbers of people who will continue to remember her bright personality.
“She was so loving and eager to help in any way possible,” he said. “She just brought light and well-being wherever she went.”
In addition to her husband, Stovall is survived by her parents, Rosemary McLain Ware of Madison, Miss., and James Reed Stovall of Shreveport, La.; a sister, Holly McLain of Waco, Texas; and brothers James Stovall of Madison, Miss., and William Stovall of Madden, Miss.
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