A CREATIVE SPACE
GALLERY + ART STUDIO + LOFT
ABOUT THE ARTIST
After receiving an undergraduate degree in Painting from Barton College (Wilson, NC), in 1995, Bridgers traveled abroad to begin graduate work at The University of Georgia’s campus in Cortona, Italy. He went
on to earn an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art (Athens, GA) in 1999.
Bridgers taught studio courses at the University of Georgia from 1996-2002, including a 2001 term at the University’s Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. From 2002-2004, Bridgers taught as a Visiting Professor of Art at the University of Wyoming (Laramie) and then went on to teach and lead the Painting and Drawing curriculum at the University of Redlands (Redlands, CA), where he earned tenure as an
Associate Professor Art.
He has maintained an active studio practice for over 30 years and has exhibited his work in galleries and museums across the United States. His work is held in public and private collections throughout the
United States, Italy and Japan.
After 20 years of bouncing around the country pursuing artistic and academic opportunities he and his family made the decision to return to North Carolina in 2012. Currently, Bridgers has a home studio in Durham, NC and works independently in collections care for galleries, museums, and private art collectors. On occasion he continues to teach painting and drawing courses to share with others his obsession for the history and the craft of painting.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My painting practice involves time; and the realization that this curious alchemy – paint on brush, paint on canvas, paint on paint, continues to hold me, anchored to the process. In the studio where my head spins I root around in ideas and images from my own experience. The themes include mind wanderings, sensations noticed, feelings remembered – transitory events that have shaken the senses revealing patterns and forms in seemingly nonsensical environs. My work engages both representation and non-representation, existing in a space that is simultaneously imagined, observed, and constructed. This evolving terrain is shaped through classical methods and sustained by a deep fascination with the history of painting.
Ben Bridgers 2025
