Celebrated for her large-scale, luminous poured canvases, Bette
Ridgeway has devoted five decades to developing her unusual pouring
technique; garnering international recognition in the process. Born in
Tupper Lake, a small village in the Adirondack Mountains in New York,
she has traveled the globe; studying, painting, teaching and exhibiting
her work, while simultaneously immersing herself in the customs and
colors of the diverse cultures of Africa, Australia, Europe, Asia,
Mexico and South America. She studied and taught painting during lengthy
stays in Antananarivo, Madagascar; Canberra, Australia; and Santiago,
Chile.
Her mentor Paul Jenkins (1923-2012), the acclaimed Abstract
Expressionist, encouraged the artist in 1979 to work large, eliminate
subject matter, and focus on color, space and time. Ridgeway followed
his advice and has developed and refined her signature technique. "Color
is my subject and my muse," says Ridgeway. Located in Santa Fe, NM since
the mid-1990s, Ridgeway is represented by numerous galleries and has
been shown in over 80 gallery and museum exhibitions, internationally.
Her work is included in many public and private collections.
Her recent awards include the 2023 Leonardo DaVinci International Prize,
the Caravaggio International Prize 2022, the Michelangelo International
Prize 2021, and "Top 60 Contemporary Masters 2017" by Art Tour
International Magazine In addition, she won the Oxford University Alumni
Prize at the "Art of the Mind" exhibition at the Chianciano Art Museum
in Tuscany. She has been published in noteworthy art journals and
catalogues such as Artfolio 2022, the Monk Magazine, UK, Escape Art
Review Special Edition, London, UK; Women’s Essence: a concomitant
juried exhibition at the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; the
inaugural edition of the London Art Biennale 2013, London, England,
United Kingdom.
Click here for a
short film of Ridgeway’s unusual pouring technique.