Ledgerwood confronts the history of abstract painting with wall painting installations, paintings on canvas and ceramics informed by domestically created decorative work. The experiential power of color challenges visual stability and spills into the space in front of the work. Motifs are derived from shapes associated with Stone Age goddess cultures throughout Europe. Circles, triangles, chevrons, quatrefoils and a seed-like shape are womanly ciphers symbolic of feminine power.
Born in 1959, Ledgerwood lives and works in Chicago, Illinois and Sawyer, Michigan. She earned a B.F.A. from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Through August 2020, she teaches at Northwestern University in the Department of Art Theory & Practice where she is the Alice Welsh Skilling Professor in the Arts.
