Linda Ridgway

Herself

Nasher Sculpture Center
August 19 – September 12, 2021

Linda Ridgway’s attentiveness to the rhythms of nature and its echoes in poetry has sustained more than three decades of involvement in sculpture, drawing, and printmaking. For her Nasher Public installation, she has brought together a compelling installation that forms a meditation on time, memory, and touch, drawn from her experiences.

Ridgway creates an evocative symbolic language using forms found in nature as well as domestic textiles and objects. While her works reflect personal experiences and often allude to specific poems or works of literature, they also contemplate enduring questions of womanhood, tradition, and ephemerality. Often ethereal in their delicacy and the inclusion of impermanent organic material, her works thoughtfully question accepted understandings of nature and femininity, and their connected cultural associations. Gestural lines, exquisite detail, and organic forms create a sense of intimacy and history that is both contemplative and reflective. Through Ridgway’s close attention to the qualities of her materials and the purposeful placement of these personal expressions, the artist invites introspection, a reconsideration of the self as well as a meditation on the past.

See more from the Nasher here.

Born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Linda Ridgway received her MFA from Tulane University, where she studied printmaking. She is widely recognized for her poetic sculptures in bronze. Working across various media, Ridgway creates an evocative symbolic language using forms found in nature as well as domestic textiles. While her works reflect personal experiences and often allude to specific poems or works of literature, they also contemplate enduring questions of memory, womanhood, tradition, and ephemerality. Often ethereal in their delicacy and their inclusion of impermanent organic material, her works question accepted understandings of nature and femininity, and their connected cultural associations. Gestural lines, fine detail, and organic forms create a sense of intimacy and reveal the influence of post-minimalism.

Throughout her career, Linda Ridgway’s sculptures, drawings, and prints have been featured in more than thirty solo exhibitions as well as a number of important group exhibitions. The artist’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; the Dallas Museum of Art; the El Paso Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Old Jail Art Center; Albany, Texas; and the Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas. Ridgway currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.