I am a Texas-born artist currently living in Abiquiu, New Mexico. My work is based on re-interpreting family, social, & natural history through the form of painted & sewn wall works, sculptures and artist’s books. My work is a kind of personal archaeology; I see myself as a “literate” granddaughter who has synthesized the quilt-making/storytelling traditions of my rural grandmothers into new forms. I usually paint in oil on gessoed paper or wood and often incorporate found materials such as rusted metal or re-used cans. These found materials add resonance to my work and are part of its content. I often include texts, sometimes as a word play or story. The words can be imprinted or written by hand. Even if the text or content is difficult or provocative, I seek to arrive at harmony. I want to find ways through artmaking to achieve resolution and balance.
I resided many years in New York City before moving to New Mexico, and have exhibited extensively in NYC, Canada, Brazil and New Mexico. I am committed to the idea of placing artwork within a social context and have worked with feminist/ political art groups towards that end. Working with other artists or with members of the community has long been a part of my art practice. This can take the form of inviting friends to send me words or bits of materials that I incorporate into my art-making, or through organizing collaborative women’s exhibits based on specific ideas, or through working with school children, as I have done in New Mexico, to create large-scale outdoor public art painted tile mosaics. I have also managed the Espanola Farmers Market for the past twenty years and done two iterations of The Farm Show, a project that pairs artists and farmers and has resulted in the creation of thirty-two Farm Story banners. Barnard College Library and Archives houses Sabra Moore NYC Women’s Art Movement Archive that documents the art and activism that I have chronicled in my book, Openings: A Memoir from the Women’s Art Movement, New York City, 1970- 1992 (New Village Press, 2016). My solo show at Barnard College, WORDY, artworks mostly from the nineteen eighties that use words or stories, has been rescheduled for spring 2021.
I resided many years in New York City before moving to New Mexico, and have exhibited extensively in NYC, Canada, Brazil and New Mexico. I am committed to the idea of placing artwork within a social context and have worked with feminist/ political art groups towards that end. Working with other artists or with members of the community has long been a part of my art practice. This can take the form of inviting friends to send me words or bits of materials that I incorporate into my art-making, or through organizing collaborative women’s exhibits based on specific ideas, or through working with school children, as I have done in New Mexico, to create large-scale outdoor public art painted tile mosaics. I have also managed the Espanola Farmers Market for the past twenty years and done two iterations of The Farm Show, a project that pairs artists and farmers and has resulted in the creation of thirty-two Farm Story banners. Barnard College Library and Archives houses Sabra Moore NYC Women’s Art Movement Archive that documents the art and activism that I have chronicled in my book, Openings: A Memoir from the Women’s Art Movement, New York City, 1970- 1992 (New Village Press, 2016). My solo show at Barnard College, WORDY, artworks mostly from the nineteen eighties that use words or stories, has been rescheduled for spring 2021.
