Adirondack-Born, Santa Fe-Based: Bette Ridgeway opens Chromatic Luminosity at LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe
A Star is Born, 2026 — acrylic on canvas, 40 × 40
Anatomy of a Storm, 2026 — acrylic on canvas, 44 × 30
Bette Ridgeway in front of LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, 2026
Lewallen Galleries, Santa Fe, Announces Representation of Colorist Bette Ridgeway
SANTA FE, NM, UNITED STATES, October 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- LewAllen Galleries announces its representation of new paintings by lyrical color abstract painter Bette Ridgeway, presented in a major solo exhibition, Chromatic Luminosity, opening October 16, 2026, and continuing through November 14, 2026. Artist receptions will take place on Friday, October 16, 2026, 5–7 PM, and during Santa Fe’s Last Friday Art Walk on October 30, 2026, 5–7 PM.
Awash with brilliant color and graceful, evanescent movements through space, Ridgeway’s most recent works convey an ongoing exploration and expanding connection with Romanticism, fusing a deep response to nature with profoundly felt personal emotions.
These masterful paintings reflect a career of more than 25 years devoted to lyrical color abstract painting and resonate with both the Tachisme movement of France from the 1940s and ’50s, with its use of stains and splashes, and, more particularly, with the influence of her mentor Paul Jenkins, who became famous for his own works of poured and stained paint during the latter half of the 20th century. Ridgeway, however, is distinguished by a distinct and expanding connection with Romanticism, fusing a profound response to nature and deeply felt personal emotions. This manifests in the soulful and meditative sensations that emanate from her translucent veils of color. The effect modulates the spontaneity of her process and elevates the paintings to carefully considered compositions of timeless aesthetic elegance.
While her art conveys a graceful fluidity integrated with spontaneity, Ridgeway’s imagery is predicated on deliberate construction and thoughtful decision-making. Working physically on large, unprimed cotton duck canvas laid flat on the studio floor, she manipulates thinned fluid acrylics with sponges, mops, scrapers, and pure rainwater collected in New Mexico. This pour-and-stain technique allows pigment to sink directly into the raw canvas fibers rather than sit on the surface, enabling light to travel through the stained layers and yielding a luminous atmospheric depth. As the high-desert atmosphere evaporates the moisture, the settled pigments form rich chromatic waves anchored by subtle horizon lines and structural pops of color.
“Color is a vibrating frequency that interacts directly with the viewer,” states Ridgeway, citing Wassily Kandinsky’s premise that color directly affects the soul. “One color tells me the next; the moment paint meets wet canvas, the composition takes over.”
The whole presents an experience that is both exuberant and contemplative. Chromatic Luminosity presents a selection of signature stain works alongside recent compositions that integrate fresh, vibrant pigments into Ridgeway’s classic high-desert palette.
Bette Ridgeway (b. 1940) spent her youth in the Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid, New York, where early exposure to Hudson River School paintings at the Albany Institute of History planted a lifelong interest in light and luminosity. Following extensive global teaching and travel across Africa, Australia, and South America, she established her home and studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she has lived and worked for thirty years. Her work has been exhibited widely, including in numerous international venues.
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Artist: Bette Ridgeway
Exhibition: Chromatic Luminosity
Venue: LewAllen Galleries
Address: 1613 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501
On View: October 16 – November 14, 2026
Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 10 AM–6 PM; Saturday, 10 AM–5 PM
Artist Reception: Friday, October 16, 2026, 5–7 PM
Artist Reception: Last Friday Art Walk Friday, October 30, 2026, 5–7 PM
Press Contact: Daniel Zeese | DZeese@lewallengalleries.com | 505.988.3250
Website: https://collections.lewallengalleries.com/
Samantha P Furgason
ARTWORKinternational INC Press
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Carlo Zanella has produced directed this video which celebrates the career of Bette Ridgeway, an internationally-awarded painter.
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