Sandra Moore

Artist

Art has been a process of living for me. In the 70s, I was a stringer photographer for UPI and Associated Press. I worked in the late 70’s as a lab tech to subsidize my work with the wire serves. In the 80s and 90s I worked as a Scenic Artist for a variety of theaters and schools, while raising a family. From 2007 to 2016 I taught grades 8-12 Art at The Neighborhood Academy. Since retiring from a full-time job teaching, I work more in my studio and teach part time. “The Clay Project” is a program that I created to work with Adults and children in the East Liberty area. During the Pandemic of 2020 I worked virtually with families to create a mural for Borland Garden, “The Mural Project”. My work in sculptural ceramics work is thrown and burnished. The clay bodies I use are Standard 105 (white) and Starworks Ceramics, North Carolina Okeewemee Fine (pink). The pieces are fired for gold and the horsehair reduction. I paint with the hair using heat cues to create a variety of effects. When I start laying on the hair, the piece is around 1600 Degrees Fahrenheit. The firing stops when the heat cue is an orangish/yellow glow, encircling the outside edge of the piece like a halo. Next the kiln top is raised and I lay the first hairs on the piece. These hairs will deoxidize, creating white lines. As the piece cools down, the last hairs make black lines, due to the reduction of carbon. Each beloved horse that was groomed for the hair, have their own individual oils. The oils add a neutral color to the surface. I love the contrast of the meticulous building of the piece, then subjecting it to a fast, intense thermal shock event of the horsehair firing. Dancing around the piece with hair falling and reducing into the clay for a 2-minute period of time is exhilarating and freeing. Exhibitions and Awards of note: STEAM Grant from The Pa. Council of The Arts 2020, for The Clay Project. Pennsylvania State Museum 1rst Place Award for Craft, 2020 Associated Artist 2019 Annual at The Westmorland Museum of American Art Hoyt Regional Exhibition 2019, 2021and 2023 The Pennsylvania State Museum “State of Art” 2013,2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 exhibits Pittsburgh Society of Artist 2018 annual award Westmoreland Museum Biannual 2013 Westmoreland Nationals Craft Awards 2013, 15, 16 and (2)2020. NCECA Bailey Pottery Ceramics Teacher Grand Prize 2012 Carnegie Museum, Associated Artist 2011 - Annual Friends of Art Purchase Award. The Heinz Endowment Grant to work in an inner-city school to build a mosaic mural. 2008 Associated Artist 107, Westmorland Museum of Art, 2019 Associated Artist 100th Annual Carnegie Museum of Art. Associated Artist 99th Annual Carnegie Museum of Art. Three Rivers Arts Festival - Emerging Artist Award 2006.