Sally Moore

Sally C. Moore of San Francisco passed away at home on Saturday October 19, 2013. Sally, born December 8, 1930, was a highly intelligent woman with an insatiable impulse to create. A multi-media artist, her work appeared in galleries in New York, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Taos and Los Angeles. She received the Bronze Award for Design in Cincinnati and the Davis Grant from the Art Student League in New York. Hebrew Union College, the California Departments of Forestry and Health commissioned her work. Sally received a Masters in Fine Arts in Film and Painting from the University of Cincinnati and another in Dance from University of California, Irvine. She obtained her BA in journalism and creative writing from Manhattenville College after completing high school at Sacred Heart Academy, with honors, in Cincinnati.

Sally returned to Cincinnati after college and worked as a journalist for the Batavia paper and for her family business. In 1954, she met and married Alfred A. Moore. Five children soon followed, one dying at birth. She marched for civil rights and against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C., and she picketed for the United Farm Workers in Cincinnati, hosting Caesar Chavez in her home. She rallied for women's rights in the 1970s. Divorced, and in a new relationship, she moved to San Francisco, California in 1976.

Sally Moore's childhood in New York City quickened her artistic impulse, instilling a sense of rhythm and force; her family's annual trek to Mexico impregnated her imagination with the vibrant and brilliant colors that became the defining feature of her life's work. Her childhood experiences informed her politic as an artist - art belongs in the public domain and at its best, is interactive. From the Ohio River she learned curves and drifts, and California added a sense of space.

For Sally, life and art were synonymous. She explored the human condition in many mediums including photography, writing, dance, film, and painting. She investigated the interactions between mediums, seeking to understand how one medium could expand the horizons of and support another medium and exploring the themes of interconnectedness, relationship, and commitment.

A prolific reader and indefatigable movie-goer, her charismatic energy attracted friends wherever she went. Sally challenged assumptions, asked original questions and worked to wake-up new responses in all of her relationships. No topic was sacred. She is survived by two of her children, Jeremiah R. Moore (Amy Sena - Cincinnati) and Alexandra Moore-Wulsin (Bill - Seattle) as well as 5 grandchildren. She is preceded in death by sons John Barnabas Moore and Nicholas Williams Moore, daughter, Judith Moore, one grandchild, and her parents, Dorothy Conway Rush and John Charles Rush. A celebration of life will be held in the New Year. Charitable contributions in her memory may be made to the San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.