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Rick Stevens is a Santa Fe–based contemporary landscape artist whose work balances expressive spontaneity with a deep reverence for the natural world. Drawing inspiration from the rhythms, forms, and energy of the outdoors, Stevens translates these experiences into rich, evocative paintings that juxtapose color, texture, and pattern in unexpected ways. His landscapes — from misty river scenes to dynamic mountain forests — reflect a lifelong engagement with nature and a keen attention to light, motion, and stillness. In his process, he gathers impressions, patterns, and memories from the natural world, allowing the quiet intelligence of place to emerge in luminous, meditative form. Over the course of his career, Stevens has exhibited widely, creating work that resonates with both emotional depth and visual vitality.
The light during the winter months is lower than other times of year. That “golden hour” happens earlier and lasts longer. That low light makes the landscapes more picturesque. Santa Fe has many more sunny days in the winter than Michigan, where it’s often gray with little or no contrast. I’ve seen a month go by in a Michigan winter without the sun coming out.
The contrast on a sunny day at 10,000 ft. elevation is very strong. I love going up the mountains when there is snow, heading up towards the ski basin – not to ski – but to hike with camera in snowshoes.
Light makes form and pattern perceivable. It illuminates material objects, a condition that allows seeing to occur. I think of Light as fundamental, carrying information and intelligence. The idea of “Gathering Light” to me means gathering information, patterns of life and ways of seeing. It’s also a gathering of memories and impressions that come out in the studio.
I inherited a loving of the outdoors and being in the wild from childhood. My family camped and canoed a lot, and my father painted scenes of rivers and woods. I would do the same, in a very different way later in life. Moving from Michigan to the southwest provided a change of scenery, but my inclination is to go to the mountain forests and streams, although I love the iconic southwest landscape also.
In tai chi it is said “Find the motion in stillness, and the stillness in motion”. I think that applies to painting also. What you embody you feel in all things. When absorbed in the act of painting I can feel movement, balance, stillness in the process and whether it holds up in the final piece.
Rick Stevens is a featured artist in Gathering Light, on view at Ann Korologos Gallery January 8 to 29, 2026
